The Right Prize for the Right Person
by SK Dark Dragon
Summary: Yugi and his friends travel to an island to participate in a new tournament. But his Millennium Puzzle has been mistaken for a tournament prize, and he must win in order to get it back. But a new evil threat lurks on the island, seeking the puzzle too...
1. Chapter 1 Boys Overboard

Chapter One: Boys Overboard!  
  
It was a cloudy afternoon, and Yugi Motou was waiting on the dock with his friends, Joey Wheeler, Triston Taylor, Ryou Bakura, Tea Gardner, Serenity Wheeler, Duke Devlin, and Mai Valentine.  
  
Everyone (aside from Triston and Serenity, who were coming along as cheerleaders) was going to participate in a new tournament that had been featured in the news a week earlier.  
  
They all had their suitcases packed and were spread out on the dock beside them.  
  
Waiting a few feet apart from them were Seto and Mokuba Kaiba. They were all awaiting the arrival of the last boat; the boat that would be taking them to the island in which the tournament was being held.  
  
"When is that darn boat going to get here?" Joey asked impatiently as he stood on his tiptoes, as if to see the boat in the distance.  
  
"It'll be here," Yugi assured everyone. "I heard they're small though. They say they only have 5 rooms on each boat. We're lucky to be the only ones left."  
  
"I just hope the last boat hasn't LEFT without us lucky people," Tea pointed out.  
  
A strong wind blew by and Bakura gave a shudder.  
  
"Today is not a good day to be riding boats," he muttered, kicking a pebble into the water with his shoe.  
  
"Don't worry," Mai said calmly, checking her nails. "These guys are professionals, we'll be FINE."  
  
A few more minutes passed, during which time everyone became more and more restless.  
  
Mokuba sat down on his own suitcase and looked up at his older brother.  
  
"'Ni-sama? How much longer do you think it will be?" he whined.  
  
Kaiba looked up and saw something small and faded green appear on the horizon.  
  
"Not long at all," he said, picking his briefcase up off the ground.  
  
"There it is!" Joey cried, jumping up and down with excitement.  
  
"Do you think he'll die of excitement when he actually gets ON the ship?" Kaiba asked with a cold smile as he joined Yugi and the others by the edge of the dock.  
  
"What did you say?" Joey snapped, and imdediately stopped hopping up and down.  
  
"Never mind," Kaiba muttered as the boat approached the dock.  
  
It was small, faded, and beat-down looking. It looked, to be perfectly honest, like a tin can that had gone through the garbage crusher once and managed to survive.  
  
"We're going to be traveling...in this?" Mai asked, horrified, as two men in suits got off.  
  
"We welcome you to the beginning of the Tropical Tournament, the beginning, of course, being your journey to the island," One man said, cheerfully, to the group.  
  
"Thanks," Yugi said, politely.   
  
"Now, I need to ask all of you to put all of your suitcases in here," The other man said, opening a hatch on the side of the boat.   
  
Inside, was a very small room, obviously used for storing moderate amounts of luggage.  
  
"You'll need to remove things like your pajamas and toothbrushes, of course, as you won't have access to this compartment while we are in transit," The first man explained.  
  
Mai turned away from everyone else and yanked something white and lacey out of her bag. She shoved it into her purse and zipped it shut.  
  
"Okay, you can have my bag," she said, tossing it in the compartment.  
  
Everyone else did likewise; pulling their Pajamas out of their bags and then handing them in to the men to be stored.  
  
"Now, everyone, you may board the Grand Boat!" The second man announced, showing them the path inside.  
  
Inside, things looked a bit nicer than the outside, but it certaintly didn't seem as though it deserved the name "Grand Boat." The walls were painted yellow and on the ceiling hung dusty chandeliers.  
  
The boat seemed to sway with even their minor footsteps on the floor of the boat.  
  
"This is going to be a wonderful trip," Kaiba muttered sarcastically, as he and the others walked down toward the rooms.  
  
"Okay!" Mai said, pointing to the five rooms. "Here are the arrangements: Mokuba and Kaiba, in that one,"  
  
Kaiba and Mokuba, looking rather displeased with Mai's "superior" attitude, walked inside to stow away their Pajamas.  
  
"Duke, Joey, and Triston...take that one," Mai said, pointing out another room.  
  
"Tea and Serenity," Mai pointed to another room.  
  
"Yugi and Bakura in that one, and I'll take the last one."  
  
"Why are you the only one with a single room?" Joey grumbled as he walked to his triple-shared room.  
  
"Because...because," Mai said with a grin. "Because I'm me."  
  
"Well that's a GREAT reason," Duke muttered, shutting their door behind them.  
  
"I guess it's not so bad; me and you being roommates," Yugi said to Bakura as he put his Pajamas in the top drawer of the dresser.  
  
"Yeah," Bakura said, putting his Pajamas on his bed.   
  
They were lavander, but they were inside out, so Yugi couldn't see the design on the front.  
  
A little while later, they gang (except Mai), and Kaiba and Mokuba, were out on the deck, looking at the ocean as the boat set sail.  
  
"Oh I just LOVE the ocean, Onicha!" Serenity said happily.  
  
"Yeah," Joey muttered, gazing happily out at the ocean, his arm around his sister's shoulder.  
  
There was a beep from behind them, and everyone turned to see Duke, sitting on a beach chair, typing madly on his lap-top.  
  
"What?" he asked, looking up. "Amber was online; I couldn't ignore her!"  
  
"You think to much about that troublemaker," Joey muttered, turning around again.  
  
He disliked Amber Johnson, a girl who had a crush on Duke, and Duke had a crush on, because she had laughed at him once when he had an accident with his lunch tray in the cafeteria.  
  
"Eh?" Duke asked, typing wildly, not even hearing what Joey was saying.  
  
Kaiba shook his head, but didn't say anything. Mokuba walked over to where Bakura was gazing up at the dark clouds above them.  
  
"What's up?" Mokuba asked, leaning on the railing.  
  
"It looks like it's going to rain," Bakura said.  
  
No sooner had the words left his mouth did a large clap of thunder roll by and tiny droplets of rain began to pour down; small at first, then bigger and harder.  
  
"Ah! Onicha!" Serenity cried as Joey started to lead his sister down toward the door.   
  
"Don' worry," Joey said reassuringly. "Let's just go in."  
  
A downpour had started as most everyone tried to run for the door. Duke typed a quick "raining. Got to go." To Amber on the computer before slapping the laptop shut and running to the exit.  
  
"'Ni-sama!" Mokuba cried, trying to run toward his brother.  
  
"Mokuba, wait!" Kaiba cried, but it was too late.  
  
Mokuba slipped on the wet wood of the deck and slid back into Bakura. The two slid a few feet, over to the bars, and right underneath and off the boat!  
  
"Help!" Mokuba cried as he and Bakura hit the water below with a splash.  
  
"Mokuba!" Kaiba cried, hurrying (thought not running) over to the bars.  
  
"Bakura!" Yugi called, leaning over the bars to get a better view of the two.  
  
"Man overboard!" Triston called to Tea, who was standing near the door.  
  
"BOYS overboard!" she corrected, looking wildly from side to side for something to help.  
  
Kaiba didn't wait for help, however. He dove right in after them.  
  
"Kaiba!" Yugi called after him. "Wait!"  
  
"Three boys overboard!" Triston called to Tea, who found a life ring and was trying to pull it off its hook on the wall of the boat, as rain beat down on her.  
  
"Quit with the updates and help me, Triston!" Tea snapped, as she tugged on the life ring again.  
  
Kaiba, down in the water, looked around for a sign of Mokuba and Bakura somewhere. He spotted Bakura's white hair a few feet away.  
  
He swam over to him, and noticed that Bakura had Mokuba with him.  
  
"Hey Kaiba," Bakura said, spotting him behind him.  
  
"Are you okay, Mokuba?" Kaiba asked. "Bakura?"  
  
"I'm fine, 'Ni-sama," Mokuba said, swimming over to his brother and clinging on to him.  
  
"Me too, I guess, if you could call being in the ocean during a rainstorm okay."  
  
"Okay," Kaiba said, looking up. "We need someone to toss us a life float or something."  
  
"Kaiba!" Came a vague voice from above them. "Bakura? Mokuba! Catch!"  
  
A long rope flew down and a red and white-stripped life float slapped the water a few feet in front of them.  
  
"Gotcha!" Bakura said, grabbing onto it. "Can we all go up at once?" he asked Kaiba.  
  
Kaiba pushed his soggy bangs out of his eyes.  
  
"I don't think so," he said, looking at the small life ring. "You can go up first, then Mokuba, and then me."  
  
"Are you sure?" Bakura asked.  
  
Kaiba nodded.  
  
"Yugi! We got the ring! Hold onto it while we climb up, ok?" Kaiba called up.  
  
"Okay!" Came a soft voice from above.  
  
After the three had made it safely to the deck again, they all hurried inside the ship.  
  
"Well, I'm glad we didn't get swept away by the current!" Bakura sighed, water dripping off his clothes and onto the floor.  
  
Yugi let out a sigh.  
  
"Well, at least everyone's back on board!"  
****  
  
End Chapter One. I know it's a bit different than what the title suggests, but they've got to GET to the island first.  
"Yes they do."  
Chapter two is up as well, and if it isn't showing on the screen, go up to the URL of this chappie and add on the end "chapter=2" and it should give you the link.  
"Thanks for reading, and please review!"  
:) 


	2. Chapter 2 Pajama Problems

Chapter 2: Pajama Problem  
  
** First of all, this is kind of a funny chapter. Still set on the boat for now, but a little funnier than other chappies will be. Hope you like it!**  
  
Mai walked by casually, but stopped when she saw the gang.  
  
"You're sopping wet!" she cried, looking at everyone. (Even Yugi and Tea, who HADN'T fallen in the water looked as though they had.) "What did you do? Go for a swim?"  
  
"Yes," Kaiba muttered, walking by Mai and grabbing two towels out of a closet in the hallway. "Come on, Mokuba."  
  
Mokuba nodded and followed his brother to their rooms.  
  
"We'd better change too," Yugi said, turning to the others.  
  
"But the only thing we brought on board that is dry is our...Pajamas!" Tea exclaimed.  
  
"I don't wear Pajamas," Joey muttered, tossing his hair behind him.  
  
"You don't...WEAR Pajamas?!" Tea asked, shocked, putting her hand over her mouth.  
  
Joey had to think a minute before he realized what she was saying.  
  
"Oh!" he said, quickly, waving his hands in front of him. "I didn't mean it that way! I DO where something, just not Pajamas."  
  
"Yeah, your birthday suit," Triston muttered, but luckily, only Duke heard him.   
  
He giggled quietly.  
  
"What happens to the Pajamas grandma sends you every year, Joey?" Serenity asked.   
  
"Um...I give them to other people," Joey muttered, kind of embarrassed.  
  
"Is THAT why you always give me Pajamas for my birthday, Joey?" Yugi asked, slightly irritated.  
  
"Um...yeah, I just shrink 'em in the wash first."  
  
Yugi sighed.  
  
"Well, I'm going to go change," Yugi said, and he followed Bakura into their room.  
  
Yugi used the bathroom connected to their room to change, while Bakura used their bedroom after carefully locking the door.  
  
When Yugi had finished dressing, he tapped on the door.   
  
"Are you through, Bakura?"  
  
There was a little squeak from inside.  
  
"Are you okay?" Yugi asked, putting his ear to the door.  
  
Yugi heard a shuffle of blankets.  
  
"You can come in," Bakura's muffled voice came from inside.  
  
Yugi walked in, dressed in his light blue Pajamas with little white stars on them for decoration.  
  
"Where are you?" he asked, looking around.  
  
"Under the covers," Bakura muttered.  
  
Yugi noticed a lump under the covers that he guessed was Bakura.  
  
"Bakura, what are you doing hiding under there?" Yugi giggled, sitting down next to the lump.  
  
"My Pajamas," Came a moan.  
  
"Aw, they can't be so bad," Yugi said comfortingly.  
  
"They are...because they aren't mine," Bakura moaned.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"This morning, I was in a rush, so I just grabbed my Pajamas out of the dryer while they were still inside out. My exchange-family's daughter wears purple Pajamas too, and I took hers by mistake!"  
  
"But...girl Pajamas aren't so bad," Yugi said. "I'm sure they look just like your normal ones. As long as they don't have...ruffled collars or anything."  
  
Bakura took off the covers and Yugi gasped.  
  
"Not ruffled collars, but BIG PINK HEARTS!" Bakura said sadly.  
  
It was true. The front of the purple Pajamas were covered with large, pink hearts. They were shiny and glossy, but DEFINITELY not for a boy to wear.  
  
"Bakura..." Yugi muttered, looking from one heart to another.   
  
Combined with Bakura's long hair, he looked rather girlish wearing the heart-covered-Pajamas.  
  
Bakura pulled the covers back over him and sighed.   
  
"I'm NOT leaving this room," he muttered.  
  
"Bakura, what about dinner?" Yugi asked.  
  
"Not hungry."  
  
"You're kidding!" Yugi cried.  
  
"No, some large hearts made me loose my appetite," Bakura explained. "I don't want ANYONE else to see me like this!"  
  
"I'll bring you back a sandwich," Yugi said, walking toward the door.  
  
"Thanks," The lump under the covers muttered.  
  
Outside the room, he saw Tea, who was wearing pink, Mai, who was also wearing pink, Serenity, who was wearing purple with a rainbow design, Triston, who wore black.  
  
Joey, who was still sopping wet, as he hadn't brought PJs, Mokuba who wore plaid, and Kaiba who was wearing purple, who didn't look very happy to have to wear his pajamas in front of everyone else, though no one seemed to notice. (They looked, in fact, more or less like his regular black outfit, without the cape and straps)  
  
Duke was wearing red with black pants, and had his laptop tucked under his arm. He looked happy. (Probably his conversation with Amber had put him in a good mood.)  
  
"Where's Bakura?" Tea asked, as Yugi and she walked down the hallway to the dining room.  
  
"He had some...er...trouble with his PJs," Yugi muttered, not wanting to spill Bakura's embarrassing story to everyone in the hall.  
  
"What?" Tea asked.  
  
Yugi motioned for Tea to bend over to and he whispered what had happened. She stifled a giggle as they continued walking.  
  
"Poor him," she said, sitting down at the table next to Yugi and Duke. "Imagine, having to wear girls..."  
  
"Shhh!" Yugi hissed, as they started to eat.  
  
"Sorry!" Tea said apologetically. "I just hope Joey doesn't find out. I'd REALLY feel sorry for Bakura then."  
  
"Thanks for rescuing me, Ni-sama," Mokuba said, looking up at his brother.  
  
Kaiba smiled.  
  
"That's fine," he said, patting his brother's shoulder. "I guess you shouldn't run on a wet boat next time, huh?"  
  
"Yeah," Mokuba thought, turning slightly pink at his stupid error. "Sorry."  
  
"Don't worry about it," Kaiba said reassuringly.  
  
They were sitting at the far end of the table, whereas Yugi and his friends were all down at the other end, so Kaiba didn't have to worry about people overhearing his private conversation with his brother.  
  
The ship rocked a little and another clap of thunder was heard.  
  
"I hope this boat holds together for the rest of the ride," Duke muttered.  
  
"Me too," Yugi said, then he remembered something. "Hey! This was supposed to be the boat that holds the tournament prizes! Want to go check them out after dinner?"  
  
"Yeah!" Everyone except Kaiba and Mokuba, who hadn't overheard, chorused.   
  
But they didn't know how much trouble a simple thing like looking at the prizes could get them into, though they would soon find out...  
  
****  
  
End Chapter Two!  
Chapter 3 probably up tomorrow morning/afternoon. -Seto-Kaiba  
"Thanks for reading and please review as always." -Red Archery Girl  
Thanks again! :) 


	3. Chapter 3 Finders Keepers

Chapter 3: Finders Keepers  
  
It was only after a half an hour that everyone had finished eating everything that wanted to in the dining hall and was ready to return to their rooms.  
  
Yugi took an extra sandwich back with him, as he'd promised Bakura he would bring him back something.  
  
Yugi started to open the door to their shared room, when a voice from behind him stopped him.  
  
"Hey, Yugi," Joey said, wringing out the edge of his T-shirt, water dripping down onto the carpet. "Where are you taking that?"  
  
"This?" Yugi asked, holding it up innocently. "Oh...to my room."  
  
"Midnight snack?" Joey asked.  
  
"Uh...I like midnight snacks," Yugi said quickly, then shut the door.  
  
He put the sandwich up on the dresser.  
  
"The coast is clear, Bakura," Yugi said with a sigh.  
  
Bakura came out from under his covers.   
  
"Why didn't I just look before I grabbed my clothes?" he moaned as he walked over to Yugi.  
  
Yugi shrugged.  
  
"Oh well, I got you a sandwich," Yugi said, pointing to it.  
  
"Thanks."  
  
Yugi started for the door again.  
  
"Where are you going?" Bakura asked, taking a bite of the sandwich.  
  
"To check out the tournament prizes," Yugi said excitedly. "Someone mentioned something about them being on this boat."  
  
"Oh, that should be interesting," Bakura said, going back over to his bed. "I'm just going to stay here."  
  
"Okay," Yugi said, walking out of the room and carefully shutting the door behind him.  
  
"There you are, Yugi!" Joey said, causing Yugi to jump. "Come on! I think we know where the room is!"  
  
Standing in the hallway, however, were only Duke, carrying his laptop, Tea, who looked anxious and nervous at the same time, and Joey, still wearing his soggy clothes.   
  
"Where's everyone else?" Yugi asked, looking from one person to the next.  
  
"Serenity was talking to Triston, so I left 'em behind, and I didn't tell Kaiba or Mokuba where we were going," Joey said with a wave of his hand.  
  
"What about the other guy...Bakura?" Duke asked.  
  
"He didn't want to come either," Yugi said.  
  
Joey nodded, then stopped.  
  
"Hmmm, I don't remember seeing him at dinner," he muttered,  
  
"You were probably just too interested IN dinner to notice," Tea said and the four started off down the hall.  
  
After checking out a few rooms, which included a game room, (which would have been nice it hadn't already been dismantled by the boat's constant rocking) and a storage closet, (Joey accidentally opened the door as the boat jerked and ended up with a broom handle-in-the-face) the four finally came across a large room at the end of the hallway.  
  
"This must be it," Joey said, opening the door and walking inside.  
  
The other three followed (Duke more interested in checking his new e-mail) and looked around.  
  
In the back of the room was a large display case, covered with a layer of glass, behind which were several interesting items.  
  
One was a large, antique vase, covered with odd stripes and shapes. Another was an old bronze globe.   
  
"What's up with these junky prizes?" Joey asked, looking at a small painting of a monkey in a tree.  
  
"They said the sponsor of this tournament was a bit into old things, and that they made the best prizes," Duke muttered, not even looking at the display case.  
  
"Well, I hope I can get something like that," Joey said, pointing to a silver baseball stuck to a silver plaque. "At least."  
  
"I wonder how the contest rules work," Yugi asked, gazing at a large painting of an Egyptian tomb. "Hey! That eye on the sarcophagus looks just like the one on the puzzle!"  
  
He took off his Millennium Puzzle to examine the eye closer.  
  
"Let's go guys," Tea said, backing up as the ship rocked a little more. "I don't want something to happen to these antiques while we're in the room."  
  
"Okay," Yugi said.  
  
But just as he started to move, the whole ship sank forward, causing all four of them to fly forward.  
  
Joey hit the wall, and Duke crashed into him. Tea was thrown up against a large chest in the corner and Yugi crashed headlong into the display case!  
  
His heavy Millennium Puzzle, still in his hands, crashed through the glass and he, and his puzzle, were lying half way in and half way out of the case.  
  
"Ow!" Yugi cried as shattered glass rained down on him.  
  
"Yugi!" Tea cried, rubbing her soar side as she stood up and ran over. "Are you okay?"  
  
"Just a couple little cuts," Yugi said with a grimace as he saw tiny red slits on his hands from the glass.  
  
"Let's get you out of there, buddy," Joey said, throwing Duke off of him, and running over to his friend.  
  
"Thanks," Yugi said, trying to stand, but he fell back down when he heard the door open behind him.  
  
"What in the..." Came a man's voice.  
  
Yugi guessed it was a man from before who had lead them on the ship.  
  
The man stood there for a moment, baffled at what he saw.  
  
"Security!" The man yelled, and two officers were soon rushing in the room.  
  
Yugi hadn't moved a muscle, but he could already sense the presence of two more men come into the room.  
  
"These boys were trying to steal that antique!" The man said, pointing to the Millennium Puzzle in Yugi's cut hands.  
  
"We weren't stealing!" Joey yelled, outraged. "We came down here to look at your dorky prizes for the tournament, when your faulty boat made a sharp turn, and my poor friend fell into your flimsy case!"  
  
"That's right!" Tea snapped, walking over to Yugi. "And I'm NOT a boy."  
  
"That's enough!" One officer yelled, striding over and lifting Yugi out of the case, and brushed the bits of glass off his coat.  
  
Then, he took the Millennium Puzzle out of Yugi's hands.  
  
"That's mine!" Yugi cried, reaching out for it.  
  
"You've got no way to prove it!" The other snapped. "You and your buddies here thought it would be cool to steal the tournament's prizes, and now you're pretending you're innocent. A likely story."  
  
"But it's true!" Duke said, walking forward, laptop in hand.  
  
"Hey! I bet you stole that too!" Another officer said, walking over to seize Duke's computer.  
  
"No way! It's got my name and everything in there!" Duke snapped, showing them his identification and the username on the computer. "It's mine!"  
  
"Fine," An officer said, backing away from Duke. "But this pyramid is DEFINITELY part of the prizes. Look, the eye is the same as this painting here. I'll bet they were bought from the same place!"  
  
"No!" Yugi cried. "Give it back!"  
  
"The only way you can HAVE it for keeps is if you win it at the tournament, which, may I remind you, you're lucky to even be competing in anymore, since your attempted theft," The man said angrily.  
  
"But..."  
  
"No more will be said on this," An officer said, putting the puzzle back in the shattered case with the painting. "Nothing else was harmed. You kids get back to your rooms before we kick you off the boat."  
  
Yugi could do nothing else but be lead away by Tea, Duke, and Joey as they left the room, and the Millennium Puzzle in the display case.  
  
"It's not fair," Yugi muttered, still shocked. "Not fair!"  
  
"I know Yugi," Tea said reassuringly, patting his shoulder. "But don't worry; you're a great duelist. You'll win it back."  
  
Yugi nodded vaguely.   
  
"Maybe," he thought to himself sadly. "Or can I not do it without Yami's help?"  
  
****  
  
End of Chapter 3. The title starting to make a little more sense? -Seto-Kaiba  
"Of course it is!" -Red Archery Girl  
Next chapter will be up soon, but for now...please review!   
"Thank you!"  
:) 


	4. Chapter 4 Surprises and Evil Forces

Chapter Four: Surprises and Evil Forces  
  
"Right now, I think we ought to get your hands cleaned up," Tea said, opening the door to Yugi's room.   
  
Yugi was so lost in his own mind that it was only when he heard Joey burst out laughing did he realize that Bakura hadn't been ready.  
  
"It's NOT funny, Joey!" Bakura cried angrily, putting his blankets over his pajama top. "There're not even mine! I took them by mistake!"  
  
"It is SO funny," Joey said, clutching his stomach, he was laughing so hard.  
  
"What's not funny?" Duke asked, peering over Joey's shoulder, but Bakura had already covered up the pink hearts.  
  
"Bakura's pajama's have pink hearts on them!" Joey laughed.  
  
"Yugi! Why did you let them in!!??" Bakura cried angrily, then noticed Yugi's hands. "What did you do to yourself?" he asked, in a much softer voice.  
  
"I cut my hands when the display case for the prizes cracked," Yugi said, unhappily as Tea got a wet washcloth and began dabbing carefully at his hands. "And now they think the Millennium Puzzle was part of the prizes, and it's now in the prize case!"  
  
"So someone's going to win YOUR puzzle?" Bakura asked, feeling so sorry for Yugi he accidentally put down his blanket.  
  
"No, Yugi's going to win it back," Tea said firmly.  
  
"Win what?"  
  
Everyone turned around to see Seto Kaiba standing in the doorway. He looked from Yugi's cut hands to Bakura's heart pajamas. (Bakura turned deep red and pulled the blanket back up over his shirt.  
  
Tea sighed.  
  
"Yugi was looking at the prizes and the puzzle fell into the case. Now everyone thinks it was supposed to be part of the prizes," Tea said sadly, wrapping Yugi's hands up with some gauze she had found.  
  
"Did they confiscate the other boy's real pajama's too?" Kaiba thought to himself, but didn't say anything about it.  
  
"Well, I know what we can do!" Joey said, standing up, trying to look tall and important.  
  
"What?" Everyone chorused.  
  
"Since all of us here are in the tournament, why don't if we win a prize, we pick the puzzle and give it to Yugi?"  
  
"That's okay with me!" Duke and Tea said.  
  
Bakura nodded.  
  
"I'd be glad to."  
  
"Thanks guys!" Yugi said happily, trying to move his stiff hands.  
  
"Kaiba?" Tea asked, looking at him.  
  
He was still standing in the doorway, arms crossed and wearing the same cold gaze he always wore, at least when he wasn't talking to Mokuba.  
  
He sighed.  
  
"I enter tournaments for title and honor, not to win prizes," Kaiba said, turning to walk away. "But should I get the opportunity to take one, I'll get your puzzle for you."  
  
"Thanks!" Yugi said happily as Kaiba walked away.  
  
"You'd never think KAIBA would actually help us out, would you?" Joey muttered, shaking his head in disbelief. "Well, I'm turning in."  
  
"Me too," Duke said with a yawn. "Feel better Yugi," he said, walking out the door and down the hall.  
  
"I wanna get a bed before those other two take them," Joey muttered, running after Duke. "Later!"  
  
"Bye Yugi, Bakura," Tea said, walking for the door. "And don't worry, Yugi. You'll win back the Millennium Puzzle AND Yami, no doubt!"  
  
"Thanks Tea," Yugi said, closing the door and getting into his bed.  
  
"Night, Yugi," Bakura called from his bed as he turned out the light.   
  
"Night."  
  
****  
  
The next morning, everyone was up early as the boat approached the island. Several other boats were visible from the deck, and had already docked at the island's harbor.  
  
Everyone's clothes had dried overnight, (Most of them had put their clothes over the air-conditioning) so Bakura didn't have to embarrass himself further by wearing heart-PJs in public.  
  
Everyone, wearing their stiff clothes, were on the edge of the dock, ready to leave the rickety boat for good.  
  
"It's exciting, huh, Ni-sama?" Mokuba asked, looking up at his brother as they both stared out at the island.  
  
"Mm," Kaiba muttered, lost in thought.  
  
"I know you're going to do great," Mokuba continued. "And I'll watch every game you play!"  
  
"Thanks, Mokuba," Kaiba said to his brother, patting his shoulder.  
  
"I know I'll do well," Kaiba thought to himself as the island drew ever closer. "I hope I'll get a chance to play a worthy opponent; like Yugi."  
  
It was painful remembering his latest loss to Yugi. Even with Obelisk the Tormentor, he had been unsuccessful in his attempt to finally defeat his rival.   
  
But now, things were back to normal. Yugi wasn't using the god cards, so he didn't need to worry about them. It could be a one on one fair match...  
  
Something struck him just then. If Yugi relied on the so-called "spirit" of the puzzle, if that was who Kaiba REALLY was playing, without him, the match wouldn't be what he wanted.  
  
"Stupid security," he muttered.  
  
"Cheer up, Yugi," Triston said, punching Yugi's arm playfully. "You're going to have to duel a lot today, so be prepared!"  
  
"Yeah, you can't go in with a loser's attitude," Joey agreed.  
  
"ALL PASSENGERS, PLEASE, STEP OFF THE BOAT NOW AND COLLECT YOUR LUGGAGE ON THE DOCK. YOU WILL BE ESCORTED TO YOUR LIVING QUARTERS FOR THE WEEKEND IN A FEW MOMENTS," A loud voice from an island intercom boomed out.  
  
"Cool, so we actually get a cabin or something this time," Yugi thought happily, remembering how at Duelist Kingdom, you had to sleep outside.  
  
After being escorted to small "cabins" that were located around the outside edges of the island, everyone met back at the dock for the tournament briefing and viewing of the prizes. (Yugi, of course, had viewed the prizes quite enough, but it was required)  
  
Several familiar duelists were milling around, gazing at the prizes, as well as unfamiliar ones.  
  
Duke looked anxiously around at the crowds of people, as if looking for someone in particular.   
  
"Looking for somebody?" Serenity asked.  
  
"Uh...sort of..." Duke said, standing on his tip-toes.  
  
"Duke!" Came a very familiar voice from behind them.   
  
Running up to them was a girl about there age, with a pink T-shirt and long black jeans. She had brown hair that hung lose on her back and purple eye-shadow. However, the most distinguishing thing about her was her pendant around her neck. It was made of amber.  
  
"Amber!" Duke said as the girl ran up to him. "I was wondering where you were!"  
  
"Well, I'm right here!" she said happily.  
  
"Amber? What is she doing here?" Joey asked suspiciously. "I thought you were typing to her all during the boat ride."  
  
"I was," Duke said holding up his laptop. "She was just on another boat."  
  
She grinned and held up her own laptop, which was covered in stickers.  
  
Joey sighed.   
  
"Great, one more jerky person to worry about," Joey sighed, putting his hand to his head.  
  
"So you're going to be dueling too?" Yugi asked Amber.  
  
Amber nodded.  
  
"I am, and you'd better beware of the "Three Mermaid Burn Deck."" She said with a sly smile, pulling a duel disk out of his bag and putting it on.  
  
"3 Mermaid Burn?" Tea asked. "That sounds...odd. I have a fairy deck."  
  
"Mine's mostly machines and zombies," Duke said with a shrug. "I'm just trying anyway."  
  
"Yeah, but now we've got to try extra hard, for Yugi's puzzle!" Tea exclaimed, seeing some kids admiring it in the display case.  
  
"What?" Amber asked.  
  
Yugi filled her in on what had happened and she sighed.  
  
"Stupid people! They always misunderstand," she muttered. "Count me in on the "rescue the puzzle" mission!"  
  
"Thanks," Yugi said with a grin.  
  
The gang continued to talk as Kaiba and Mokuba stood apart, checking out the competition while a few feet away, a boy with black hair and oval glasses was standing near the display.  
  
He wore a purple shirt and black pants and around his wrist was an odd bracelet, made with shades of dark purple and blue.  
  
He was staring directly in the case and at the Millennium Puzzle.  
  
"It...it can't be!" he cried softly to himself, getting closer to get a better view.  
  
He shoved Rex Raptor out of the way and looked closely at it.  
  
"It is!" he whispered, staring in awe at the puzzle. "It's one of the seven magic items. And it's here as a prize for this tournament?"  
  
He looked around at the other duelists, then he turned back to face the case and grinned a terrible and evil grin.   
  
"This magic item will go very well with my other abilities," he thought evilly. "I can finally fully unlock the power of the dark shadow game. And the only task set before me is to defeat these wimps who have no idea of the power I possess."  
  
"My skills are unmatched, and greater than any of the fools can imagine," he laughed to himself. "Soon, I will have what I need!"  
  
*****  
  
End of Chapter 4.   
So this is starting to get interesting. This story will have several sub-plots as well, so really things are just getting started. WOW! And it's already chapter 4! -Seto-Kaiba  
"I want to get to Amber's 3-Mermain Burn deck because I..." -Red Archery Girl  
Don't go giving anything ELSE away now. If you need more info on Amber, click on my name and read her story: A Heart of Amber. That was her first appearance and the last story I wrote.  
"Anyway! Review, PLEASE! Thank you for your time and come back soon! 


	5. Chapter 5 The Tournament Begins

Chapter 5: The Tournament Begins!  
  
A loud whistle blew, causing everyone in the crowd to grow quiet.  
  
A women wearing a long light pink dress walked up onto the platform, alongside the display case. The mysterious boy backed up a little and disappeared into the crowd of duelists.  
  
"Welcome! Welcome," The women called out, her silver hair flipping behind her as she spread out her arms to emphasize "welcome."  
  
"Welcome to the Tropical Antique Tournament!" she cried happily.  
  
"She's a bit eccentric, don't you think?" Triston whispered to Joey, who promptly jutted his elbow into Triston's arm to make him quit talking.   
  
"Ow," Triston muttered as the women continued.  
  
"Antique tournament?" Kaiba thought to himself. "How ridiculous!"  
  
"That's...an odd name," Mokuba said out loud.  
  
"I, I am Madam Christina, and I will be the host of this, THIS," She flung out her arms once again. "This marvelous tournament."  
  
Everyone's eyes widened.  
  
"Uh..." Duke muttered.  
  
"She's weird," Amber said flatly, crossing her arms.  
  
"Yeah, tell me about it," Joey muttered.  
  
"Now, the way you track your progress is not in collecting star pieces or plastic cards as before,"   
  
"They were PUZZLE cards," Kaiba thought angrily.  
  
"Instead, you'll get a little booklet with six circles, see?" Madam Christina held one open for them.  
  
"Now, ever duelist will get a little stamper. Isn't it PERFECT?!" she cried, holding up the little blue stamp.  
  
There were several sweatdrops and anime faints from the members of the crowd.  
  
"Anyway dears, everytime you win a duel, your opponent stamps one of your little circles!"  
  
Weevil Underwood chuckled at the women's ignorance.   
  
"I can easily stamp my OWN circles without even dueling anyone!" he thought happily.  
  
"Now, don't go thinking that you can just stamp your own or have your buddies stamp yours," Christina continued with a chuckle. "Each stamp has your own first and last name engraved on it and you may only have ONE stamp from a single person."  
  
"We KNOW that you'd never want to help each other out by giving away free stamps, so everything's settled. Come collect your stamp and booklet and then, as you say, IT'S TIME TO DUEL!!!!"  
  
Nearly everyone in the crowd either sweatdropped or anime fainted.  
  
"Ahh!" Yugi cried standing up again. "She didn't say it right."  
  
Madam Christina trotted off the platform and the duelists rushed up to get their ID stamps and booklets.  
  
"Well, let's go get our books," Tea said, happily running up with her friends.  
  
Kaiba and Mokuba tried to get in the crowd too, but it was difficult as the stamps were just spread out on a large table and people couldn't find their own.  
  
"Bob Willson? Who's Bob?"  
  
"I'm Bobby!" A little boy called, waving his hand around.  
  
"I'm Bob!"  
  
"I'm Robby!" Another boy called.  
  
"Allison? Tyler? Amber?"  
  
"WAIT! I'M AMBER!" Amber cried, running up and snatching her stamp away. "Thanks!"  
  
"Willy, Calvin, Seto Kaiba?" Read a boy standing up near the table. "Catch, Kaiba!" he called, throwing the little stamp out into the crowd and at him.  
  
"What?" Seto Kaiba asked, looking up as the little blue stamp hurtled through the air toward him.  
  
It clonked him on the head before falling to the ground, where it rolled under some baggage.  
  
"Ow," he muttered, rubbing the tiny soar spot on his head while bending down to collect his stamper.  
  
"SORRY!" The same kid called out, picking up more stamps.  
  
Kaiba sighed and picked up his stamp and grabbed a booklet.  
  
"Well, this is certainly going to be an unusual tournament," Mokuba said, to his brother.  
  
Kaiba nodded, grimly.  
  
"Got mine, and Tea's!" Duke said, running back through the crowd and handing Tea her stamp and booklet.  
  
"I got mine, and yours too, Mai," Joey said, handing Mai a stamp.   
  
"Baka!" she cried, examining it. "This says "Mia" not Mai!"  
  
"Oops, I..." Joey stammered but Mai huffed off to go find her own stamp.  
  
Yugi and Bakura came back a few minutes later, holding stamps and booklets of their own.  
  
"It's MURDER in there!" Bakura gasped, panting.  
  
"We were lucky to get out alive!" Yugi said, examining his stamp. "Well, we ought to get going and find some duels! At 5:30 tonight, meet back at our cabin."  
  
"Yours?" Tea asked.   
  
The gang from the boat had received 3 cabins. A small one, that Mokuba and Kaiba had decided to take, a larger one, which the girls took, and the last, which Bakura, Yugi, Triston, Joey and Duke took.  
  
"Yes," Yugi said with a nod.  
  
"Come on, Serenity," Joey said with a wave. "I'm going to find a duelist to CLOBBER!"  
  
Serenity nodded happily and rushed over to her brother.  
  
"You're so wonderful, onichan!" she said cheerfully, handing onto his arm. "You'll win for sure!"  
  
"With an attitude like that the only thing you'll win is the "over-confident" award," Duke muttered, the turned to Amber.  
  
"Want to find some duels together?" he asked.  
  
Amber nodded.  
  
"Sure," she said, and the two walked off down a path into the forest of the island.  
  
Mai followed behind him, but Joey was too interested in fixing his duel disk to notice.  
  
Serenity and Joey took off, Triston running to catch up to them, leaving Bakura, Yugi, and Tea behind. (Kaiba and Mokuba had disappeared, probably off to find a duel as well)  
  
"I'll go find a duel on my own," Bakura said, walking for another path. "You two can hang out together."  
  
"See you later, Bakura!" Yugi called with a wave as Bakura headed off, his booklet tugged under his arm and his stamp in his hand.  
  
"Well, let's go, Yugi!" Tea said happily, adjusting her new duel disk. "I've never played in a tournament before.  
  
Yugi nodded.  
  
"You'll be fine, Tea," he said reassuringly and the two headed off down the path Amber and Duke had taken.  
  
Kaiba and Mokuba were walking down a cluttered path, duelists dueling in every field.  
  
"Who do you want to play first, Ni-sama?" Mokuba asked as they walked down the path together.  
  
"I don't know," Kaiba muttered, looking from side to side for a duelist with real skill.  
  
"Hey you!" Came a strong voice from behind them.  
  
Kaiba turned around slowly to see a tall boy with a red shirt and blue pants. He wore a duel disk on his left arm, and a frown on his face.  
  
"Yes?" Kaiba asked, in the same cold voice he always used when dealing with "hot-shots."  
  
"I want to play you!" The boy said, holding up his disk. "I don't think you'll stand a CHANCE against my deck."  
  
"Really?" Kaiba asked, a grin growing on his face as he raised an eyebrow. "We'll just have to see, now won't we?"  
  
He took a few steps backward and activated his duel disk. There was no way a cocky guy like that could defeat him.  
  
"Yeah," The boy said, starting up his duel disk as well.  
  
Mokuba walked away from his brother until he was far enough back that he wouldn't be interfering.   
  
"You can do it, Ni-sama!" Mokuba called, anxious to see his brother win.  
  
Kaiba grinned as he looked at his opening hand. Lord of Dragons, Flute of Summoning Dragon, a Blue Eyes White Dragon, Blackland Fire Dragon, and Soul Exchange.  
  
"I'll go first," Kaiba declared, picking his card.  
  
It was Mask of Darkness.  
  
"I summon, Lord of Dragons!" he called, slapping the card down on the disk.   
  
The odd dragon-lord appeared in front of him in holographic form.  
  
"Next, Flute of Summoning Dragon to summon Blackland Fire Dragon and the Blue Eyes White Dragon!"  
  
"What?" The boy yelled, his eyes popping in disbelief.  
  
"All right!" Mokuba cheered.  
  
"I end my turn," Kaiba said, smiling.  
  
"Ha, I'll wipe that grin RIGHT off your face," The boy snapped, picking his card.  
  
"I play, Tribute to the Doomed!" The boy yelled.  
  
"By discarding one card from my hand, I can destroy one creature on the field," The boy explained, though Kaiba already knew the rules of that card.  
  
Kaiba smiled again.  
  
"You can't destroy either of my dragons, as Lord of Dragons protects them from harm," Kaiba retorted.  
  
"So what?" The boy snapped, discarding a card. "I'll take the stupid dragon-lord then."  
  
Lord of Dragons was bound up in wrappings and carried away from the field.  
  
"Minor set-back," Kaiba thought in his head. "But what is he planning?"  
  
"Take this!" The boy said, playing another card. "Soul Exchange!"  
  
"What?" Kaiba cried.  
  
"The Lord of Dragons is no longer on the field to protect them, so they're very vulnerable now."  
  
"Oh no!" Mokuba cried.  
  
"I offer Blue Eyes and Blackland dragons for my Cosmo Queen!" The boy cried, and the two dragons vanished from the field as tributes for the Cosmo Queen.  
  
She appeared on the boy's side of the field with an attack power of 2900!  
  
"Direct attack at his life points!" The boy cried, and the Cosmo Queen sent out a dark purple blast that hit Kaiba.  
  
His life points instantly fell to 1100.  
  
Kaiba looked up again at the boy's large grin.  
  
"This turn is over," The boy said happily. "But next turn, this GAME will be over!"  
***  
End of Chapter 5. Please Review, as always, and thanks for reading. -Seto-Kaiba  
"I hope Kaiba can pull himself together!" -Red Archery Girl  
OF COURSE HE CAN! After all, I'M the writer.  
"Hmmm...maybe I should write this next chapter..."  
:( 


	6. Chapter Six The First Evil Strike

Chapter Six: The First Evil Strike  
"Ni-sama!" Mokuba cried, looking upset. "You can't lose to him! Come on! Pick a good card!"  
  
Kaiba put his hand on his deck, squeezed his eyes shut, and drew.  
  
Meanwhile, Bakura was happily walking through the forest, looking through his deck.  
  
"I can't ever remember constructing this deck," he said to himself. "But it sure LOOKS good. I just remember finding it on the floor of my room."  
  
"Oh well," he thought, putting back in the duel disk. "It's kind of a Change of Heart deck, and that IS my favorite card..."  
  
"Hello there," Came a wispy voice from behind him that caused him to jump.  
  
"Who...who is it?" he asked, shaking slightly.  
  
"Oh, just another duelist looking for a fight," The boy from before said, coming out, his glasses glinting in the ray of sunlight that came through the trees.  
  
"Oh!" Bakura said, leaning against a tree. "Is that all? You scared me for a second."  
  
"Would you duel me?" The boy asked, activating his disk.  
  
"Uh...sure!" Bakura said, activating his own and picking a starting hand.  
  
The mysterious boy laughed.  
  
"This fool," he thought to himself. "He has no idea what kinds of surprises my deck owns...and the power I own."  
  
He looked up at Bakura, who was happily looking at his hand.  
  
"He'll pay for his horrible mistake," The boy thought evilly.  
  
*****  
  
Kaiba brought his card up to his face and opened his eyes.  
  
"Yes!" he thought, and played the magic card.  
  
"Pot of Greed!"  
  
He drew two more cards from his deck and smiled.  
  
"Crush Card," he thought, looking at his hand. "I can play Mask of Darkness in defense mode and use it as the median for it. Then Cosmo Queen, along with all the rest of his strong creatures, will be destroyed."  
  
"Two cards face down, and one monster in defense mode!" Kaiba called out, playing three of his cards, leaving him with only Soul Exchange in his hand.  
  
"Ha! I knew you weren't as good as you're rumored to be!" The boy called over to him as he drew his card. "After you lost to that Yugi guy, every has seen you for the duelist you really are: You just use your reputation and strong dragons to scare people. You're just a..."  
  
"YOU CAN'T TALK TO MY BROTHER THAT WAY!" Mokuba screamed, hopping up and down angrily. "AND NONE OF THAT IS EVEN TRUE!!! WHY YOU...YOU..."  
  
"You like to talk, but I'd like to see more of a duel," Kaiba said coldly, his eyes filled with anger.   
  
He was beginning to find it difficult to keep his attitude cool.  
  
"Fine then," The boy said with a grin. "Stop Defense. It forces your puny monster into attack mode, and then, I'll wipe out you life points with an attack."  
  
"Oh no!" Mokuba cried.  
  
"Ha, Magic Jammer!" Kaiba called out, discarding Soul Exchange to negate the Stop Defense."  
  
"Drat it!" The boy muttered, putting Stop Defense in the graveyard.  
  
"I summon out Flash Assailant, and put the remainder of my cards face down, so Flash Assailant's attack power remains 2000. Attack, Cosmo Queen!"  
  
Cosmo Queen let out another terrible purple ray which struck the Mask of Darkness.  
  
"Activate trap, CRUSH!" Kaiba called out.  
  
"Oh no!" The boy cried, as his Cosmo Queen and Flash Assailant vanished and his entire deck infected by the Crush Card.  
  
"AND, I'll take back Magic Jammer, due to the effects of Mask of Darkness," Kaiba said coolly, picking back up his trap.  
  
"Your turn," The boy sighed, abandoning all of his monsters whose attack power were over 1500 to the graveyard.  
  
Kaiba drew his card and sighed. It was not a monster!  
  
"Two cards face down!" Kaiba called, placing them face down on the field. "This turn is over."  
  
The boy picked his card and smiled.  
  
"Defense," he said happily. "Your move."  
  
"Defending? When I have no defense of my own? Or does he fear my traps?" Kaiba thought, drawing his card.  
  
"Go! Vorse Raider!" he cried, playing the monster in attack mode. It had 1900 attack power.  
  
"Attack!"  
  
Vorse Raider used its ax to slice through the defense, a girl with diamonds in her hands.  
  
"The effect of the Princess of Tsrugi activates now!" The boy said happily. "You lose 500 life points for each magic and trap card you have on the field! That means you have only 100 life points left!!!"  
  
"Don't worry, Ni-sama!" Mokuba called reassuringly.  
  
The boy drew his card and sighed.   
  
"I end my turn!" he called to Kaiba.  
  
"I play Giant Germ, and he and Vorse Raider directly attack you!" Kaiba called as he monsters reduced the boy's life points to 1100.  
  
"My turn!" The boy called, drawing a card. "Ha!" He cried, looking at his card, "Princess of Tsrugi."  
  
"Defense," he said innocently. "Your move."  
  
Kaiba drew his card.  
  
"When that guy attacks, the Princess's effect will be set off, causing him to lose his last 100 life points, winning me the game!" The boy thought happily.  
  
But Kaiba was laughing.  
  
"What?" The boy demanded.  
  
Kaiba stopped laughing and played his card.   
  
"If you're looking for effects to help you, you've run yourself down a dead alley!" Kaiba declared, playing his card. "Rageki!"  
  
"Uh oh!" The boy cried, as the princess vanished. "When a monster is destroyed without being flipped, no effect is set off!"  
  
He looked at his empty field.  
  
"I've got nothing left to shield me with!"  
  
"Exactly! Attack!" Kaiba declared, making the final move.  
  
The holograms disappeared, and Mokuba ran happily over to his brother.  
  
"I KNEW you'd win, Ni-sama!" Mokuba said happily, hopping up and down. "I knew you would!"  
  
"Now," Kaiba said, pulling out his booklet, feeling rather silly. "I need your stamp."  
  
"Well I don't want to give it," The boy said angrily.  
  
"You'd better," Kaiba said, clenching a fist. "Or else."  
  
"Ni-sama is not patient with people who get in his way," Mokuba said wisely, stepping back.  
  
"Uh...here," The boy said, quickly stamping one of Kaiba's circles. "Bye!" he cried, running away as fast as he could.  
  
Kaiba grinned.  
  
"That always works," Mokuba said happily. "Come on! Let's find another duel!"  
  
Meanwhile, Tea and Yugi were walking down a forest path together, each having one stamp in their books.  
  
"I knew you'd win your first game Yugi," Tea said, admiring her own stamp. "But I'm just glad I won one...even if it WASN'T the first game."  
  
"It's okay Tea," Yugi said. "Playing Espa Roba first wasn't the best idea. But at least you beat that other guy."  
  
Tea nodded, then stopped dead in her tracks, cracking a branch under her feet. Yugi bumped into her.  
  
"What's wrong, Tea?" he asked, looking in the direction of her gaze.  
  
"Yugi...look!" Tea cried, pointing down a hill to another path.   
  
Yugi looked, and saw what she was talking about.  
  
Lying in the middle of a field beside the path, cards spilled on the floor, was Bakura, gazing blankly up at the sky!  
  
*****  
  
End of Chapter 6.  
"Poor Bakura" -Red Archery Girl  
Don't worry though, next chapter will be up soon! But for now, please review! We'd very much like to know what you thought of this chapter! -Seto-Kaiba  
"Mmm hmm! And I can't wait for the next one! Let's just say it's going to be a duel with a VERY familiar card in it..." 


	7. Chapter Seven Three Mermaid Burn

Chapter Seven: The Three-Mermaid Attack  
  
"Bakura!" Yugi cried, hurrying down the hill, sliding down the dried leaves that littered the field.  
  
"Bakura," Tea cried, running down after Yugi.  
  
The two ran over to their friend and knelt down next to him.  
  
"What could have happened to him?" Yugi asked as Tea checked his pulse.   
  
"Everything seems to be normal, but what's with the blank look on his face?" Tea asked, worried.  
  
"I don't know..." Yugi muttered, shaking Bakura's arm slightly. "Hey, Bakura? Wake up! Wake up!"  
  
Bakura's eyes closed, then opened again.  
  
"Wha...what? What's going on?" he asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.  
  
"We found you here on the ground," Yugi explained, showing him the deck of cards. "And your deck was beside you."  
  
"Oh..." Bakura said, taking his cards and rubbing his eyes again. "I...I was dueling some boy...and he played some weird cards...and then when I lost...everything went kind of purple and then I just sort of woke up a minute ago."  
  
"Purple? Did the boy do something to you?" Yugi asked as Bakura stuck his deck back into his disk.  
  
"I can't remember," he said, straining his mind to think. "All I can remember was this voice, laughing, when my points hit zero, and that's it. I don't even remember giving him my stamp."  
  
"By the way," he said, looking around. "Where is my stamp?"  
  
The three looked around for a minute before Tea found it on the grass a few feet away, cap off, as if it had been used before.  
  
"Well, it looks like whoever beat you stamped his own booklet for himself and then wandered off," Yugi said, handing the stamp back to Bakura.  
  
"Are you sure you're okay now?" Tea asked, as the three started off down the path again.  
  
"Yeah, I think so," Bakura said as they walked along. "But it's already noon and I don't even have one stamp! I'd better find another duel!"  
  
"Us too!" Yugi said with a nod.  
  
"Why don't you come with us this time, Bakura?" Tea said as they turned a corner into a field where many duels were going on. "That way, nothing weird will happen to anyone."  
  
Bakura nodded.  
  
"Fine with me," he said.  
  
As Tea ran off to catch a female duelist, Yugi lagged behind Bakura.   
  
"I wish Yami were here," Yugi thought sadly, kicking a stone in front of him. "Then he could help figure out what that kid did to Bakura, or who he was."  
  
Yugi sighed.  
  
"I've got to win more duels!" Yugi thought, determined.  
  
*****  
  
"Yahoo!" Amber cried happily as Duke wiped out his opponent's life points with Yaronzo. "Go Duke!"  
  
"Thanks," Duke said, as the boy gladly gave Duke a stamp and waved good bye.  
  
"He was a good opponent," Amber said to Duke as he tucked away his own booklet. "Unlike my first guy. I had to chase him and pin him against a tree to get the stamp, remember?"  
  
Duke nodded.  
  
"Some people," he muttered, as they started walking down the path again. "I guess you need to find another duel, don't you?"  
  
Amber nodded.  
  
She looked around at the field. There were plenty of kids dueling, and many more milling about looking for an opponent.  
  
"Want to duel?" she asked, running up to a boy.  
  
"N...no!" The boy cried, and ran away.  
  
"Uh..." Amber muttered, looking at the boy as he ran away. "Oookay."  
  
"What was up with him?" Duke asked. "Maybe he'd heard of your reputation."  
  
Amber shrugged.  
  
"Duel?" she asked another boy as he passed.  
  
"Nope, I'm going to eat lunch. They're serving a free lunch at the harbor and I don't want to miss anything," The kid replied.  
  
"That guy reminds me of Joey," Duke sighed.  
  
"Stupid people!" Amber muttered. "Why come to a tournament if you're too chicken to duel? OR to busy thinking about EATING chicken?"  
  
Duke laughed.  
  
"I'm no chicken!" Some boy said, pulling out his deck. "I'll duel you."  
  
"Good!" Amber said happily, putting her deck in her dueling slot.  
  
"Whoa!" The boy cried, putting his hands up. "I meant I wanted to duel HIM."  
  
He pointed to Duke.  
  
"Me?" Duke asked, pointing at himself. "No, let Amber have a chance. Unless,"   
  
Amber was starting to steam.   
  
"You're too afraid you'll lose to a girl." Duke finished.  
  
"Afraid of her? Nah, let's duel!"  
  
Amber and the boy started up their duel disks and drew their opening hands.  
  
"I'm going first!" Amber declared, drawing her card.  
  
"Perfect!" she said happily, grinning at the cards in front of her. "Now you're going to realize why my deck is 3-Mermaid Burn!"  
  
"What?" The boy asked, thrown off by Amber's cocky attitude.  
  
"Go, Burning Land!" Amber cried, slapping down a card.   
  
The holographic land in front of them began to burn slightly.  
  
"Every turn from now on, each of us will lose 500 life points," Amber explained.  
  
"Oookay..." The boy muttered.  
  
"Now I set the field as Umi, play a card face down, and summon the first of the 3 mermaids! Red Archery Girl!"  
  
A cute mermaid hidden away in a shell appeared, holding a red bow and arrow in one hand.  
  
"This turn is over!" Amber declared.  
  
"My go," The boy said, drawing a card. His life points dropped 500 to 3500 LP.  
  
"Okay, I summon this one," he said, putting down a card. "Masaki the Legendary Swordsman."  
  
A small warrior appeared on the other player's field.  
  
"What is he thinking?" Duke wondered. "Red Archery Girl is 1600, now with the power increase from Umi. Masaki is only 1100. He won't win in battle."  
  
"Laugh if you want," The boy snapped. "But she's not the only one with slick moves. I play this one, Lightning Blade. It raises Masaki's power by 800, and decreases all water monsters by 700!"  
  
"Uh oh," Amber thought, looking at her 900 ATK Red Archery Girl. "She won't stand a chance now that Masaki is 1900!"  
  
"Masaki! Attack!" The boy cried and Masaki leapt across the field and sliced right through the poor Red Archery Girl.  
  
"Tornado Wall!" Amber cried breathlessly, as her trap activated. "You can destroy my monsters, but not my life points!"  
  
"So?" The boy asked, tapping his finger nails on his duel disk looking board.  
  
"Well, that means burning land won't damage me either," Amber explained with a smug look on her face. "You'll get damage, but I won't."  
  
"What?" The boy cried, turning to look at her cards that she had set up on the field. "Oh great! Card face down. Your turn!"  
  
"Yay! Amber!" Duke cheered from the sidelines of the dueling field they'd marked off.  
  
"Thanks Duke, but don't cheer too loudly until it's over," Amber said, drawing her card. "Perfect. Ready to see mermaid number two?"  
  
"What-ever! Just hurry up and move!"  
  
"Well! You've got SOME nerve! I like to have fun with the game! Go! Cure Mermaid!" Amber cried and a blonde mermaid appeared, with a red fin and a Clown Fish next to her.  
  
"Don't forget, because of Lightning Blade, she goes down 700. That means she's only 1000," The boy said with a yawn.  
  
"Don't YAWN at me!" Amber snapped. "Your turn."  
  
The boy's life points dropped further to 3000.  
  
"Okay, Masaki, let her have it!" he said with a yawn and Cure Mermaid vanished as well.  
  
Of course, Amber's life points remained in tact, but if the 3 mermaids were her essential cards, what would happen if mermaid number three didn't come up soon?  
  
"My go!" Amber said happily, picking her card.  
  
She scowled.   
  
"I pass."  
  
The boy drew his card and his life points dropped to 2500.   
  
"You're through!" he called. "I summon flame Manipulator..."  
  
"Whose power like drops because of Umi," Amber finished.  
  
"AND I de-spell Umi," The boy finished haughtily, holding up the De-Spell card.  
  
"What?" Amber cried, as all the water vanished. "Tornado Wall is destroyed when Umi is destroyed, so that's gone too."  
  
"Yep, and now you've got nothing left on the field except your stupid burn card. ATTACK!"  
  
Masaki and Flame Manipulator both ran forward and bombarded Amber with their attacks.  
  
Her life points fell to 800 as she began her turn and paid for Burning Land.  
  
"Amber!" Duke cried, looking worried. "She only has 2 turns left before Burning Land itself finished her off!"  
  
"Don't worry, Duke," Amber said, turning pink. "I'm fine!"  
  
"Oh, okay," Duke said, looking at her 800 life points.  
  
"Ack," Amber muttered, drawing her card.   
  
Then, the frown on her face flipped.  
  
"Pot of Greed!" she said happily, drawing two more cards.  
  
"Hah!" she cried, slapping two cards in her duel disk.  
  
"I play Don Keto, the Cure Master, to raise my life points by 1000," Amber said smoothly, holographic glitter appearing all around her.  
  
"Then, I'll pay the 1000 life points right back to play this card, Toonworld!" Amber cried, and the toony book appeared in front of her.  
  
"Toonword?" Duke asked, squinting to get a better view. "Were did you get that?"  
  
"From winning the American Championship," Amber said smoothly. "It's reprinted, however, with some draw backs. For example, the paying of 1000 life points for the activation. But still, it's time to show off Mermaid number 3!"  
  
"TOON MERMAID!" she cried, and a silly looking version of the Red Archery Girl appeared in front of her.  
  
"So?" The boy asked, looking up at her with tiny slit eyes. "What good will she do? She's still lowered due to lightning blade."  
  
"Well, I play Reborn the Monster, to revive the Red Archery Girl, and Premature Burial, to revive the Cure Mermaid," Amber continued, ignoring the boy.  
  
"Hello?! They are TOO WEAK!" The boy said angrily.  
  
"NOT...after I play De-Spell on the stupid lightning blade," Amber said, showing the card to him.  
  
"Oh no!" The boy cried as Masaki and all the mermaids returned to their original attack powers.  
  
"And I'll add this card to Toon Mermaid, since she wasn't normally allowed to attack in the turn she was summoned, "Fast Attack" allowing her to attack anyway," Amber said gleefully.  
  
"Yeah!" Duke cried happily. "Toon monsters can attack their opponents directly!"  
  
"That's right," Amber said, looking smugly at the boy. "Do you want me to attack, or would you rather surrender?"  
  
"Surrender," The boy said sadly, putting his hand over his cards in the surrendering manner. "Good duel."  
  
"Yeah," Amber said, holding out her book for him to stamp. "Good duel!"  
  
"Good job, Amber!" Duke said running over to her. "For a minute there, things looked pretty bad, but..."  
  
"Did you expect any less from the 3-Mermaids?" Amber asked with a wink and started off down the path. "Come on! I'm really hunger now and I don't want Joey Wheeler to eat everything!"  
  
"True!" Duke said, running to catch up. "Let's go!"  
  
But as Amber walked away, two eyes, covered with golden frames from glasses peered through the bushes at the two of them. They locked onto Amber.  
  
The evil boy from before looked down at his odd bracelet.  
  
"The little boy from before was not useless. Each opponent I defeat I will drain some of their fighting spirit, their morale. It adds to my power each and every time."  
  
His eyes wandered over to Amber, who was chatting with Duke as they walked along.  
  
"And there...there is high morale with her," he thought. "I'll defeat her, and gain another step toward the Shadow Powers I so desperately seek, yet at the same time...increase my own!"  
  
****  
End of Chapter Seven.  
  
"Wow! Amber won with me!!!"  
Yes, Red Archery Girl, she did. -Seto-Kaiba  
Get ready for an exciting next chappie, but in the meantime, review please, and thank you for everyone who has reviewed up until now! I really appreciate it!  
"WE really appreciate it!" :) 


	8. Chapter Eight The Second Evil Strike

Chapter Eight: The Second Evil Strike  
  
Amber and Duke met up with Joey, Serenity, and Triston on the dock, eating lunch with everyone else.  
  
"Hey," Triston said through a full mouth. "Grab a seat."  
  
"Sure," Duke said, sitting down next to Amber and Joey, who was eating like crazy.  
  
"Sheesh, Joey, you're acting like you haven't eating in days," Triston muttered.  
  
"Well, last night was yesterday," Joey muttered.  
  
"Can onichan find another duel after lunch?" Serenity asked. "You've already won against 2 duelists and got 2 stamps!"  
  
Joey stood up proudly.  
  
"Yes, I have, and I intend to get even more!" he declared.  
  
"Big deal," Amber said, looking at Joey with an odd expression, eyebrows arched at his confidence. "I've won 3 games and Duke has won one."  
  
"Oh," Joey said, sitting down again.  
  
Triston and Duke laughed but they had to stop when Serenity started to speak again.  
  
"So, can we go, onichan?" she asked excitedly.  
  
"Uh..." Joey muttered, looking at his untouched cupcake.  
  
He grabbed it and took a bite.  
  
"Sure," he said with his mouth full, grabbed his backpack and booklet, and beckoned for Triston to follow.  
  
"Coming?" he asked as he and Serenity walked off down the path.  
  
Triston looked at Amber and Duke, then back at Joey and Serenity.  
  
"Uh...yeah!" Triston said quickly, running to catch up with them.  
  
Meanwhile, Bakura and Tea were in a duel (Bakura with Mako Tsunami and Tea with a little girl) and Yugi was watching Tea's progress while sitting on his backpack.  
  
"Good move Tea!" he called over to her. "That really took down some of her life points."  
  
"Thanks Yugi!" Tea said happily, however, her attitude changed when the girl activated a trap card.  
  
"Ahh!" Tea cried as her life points hit zero.  
  
While Tea gave out yet another stamp, Bakura wiped out Mako's life points.  
  
"Good duel," Mako said, roughly shaking Bakura's hand (or rather, his whole arm)  
  
"Uh...no...problem..." Bakura said shakily as he was practically lifted off his feet.  
  
"Now!" Mako declared, putting Bakura down and taking out his stamp.  
  
"You need my stamp," he said, heartily stamping the first circle in Bakura's book. "Good job, and I hope to play you again!"  
  
Mako walked off, fishing spear behind his back.  
  
"Sheesh," Bakura whispered to himself, rubbing his arm tenderly.  
  
"Good job, Bakura," Yugi said, walking up to Bakura with Tea behind him.  
  
"I can't believe that my third loss," Tea muttered, looking longingly at Yugi's booklet.   
  
He'd already won 2 games today.  
  
"Thanks Yugi, and cheer up Tea," Bakura said to her as the three began to walk down a more deserted path. "That was my first stamp."  
  
"Yeah," Tea muttered looking through her deck of light fairies. "Is my deck missing something?"  
  
"Nah," Yugi said casually. "You just need to practice on weaker opponents."  
  
Bakura nodded.  
  
Meanwhile, Mai was wondering around looking for another opponent.  
  
"Two stamps down, and four to go," she said happily to herself.   
  
She looked up determinedly as two duelists ran by her.   
  
"Who should I challenge next?" she muttered as she looked around.  
  
She continued down the path a little, brushing a stray strand of hair out of her face and behind her ear.  
  
"What the..." she muttered, her eyes locking on a little boy lying in the middle of the path, his deck spread out on the ground beside him.  
  
She hurried over, her high-heels sticking in the soft ground due to the rain during the previous night, and bent down to examine the boy.   
  
His eyes were shut and he looked to be unconscious.  
  
"Excuse me," she asked, poking his shoulder gently. "Are you...alright?"  
  
"Baka boys," she muttered to herself, looking at the cards on the floor. "This one probably got into some fight with another boy over cards or stamps."  
  
She prodded his shoulder again and he stirred.  
  
"Ow, where am I?" he asked, looking up at Mai.  
  
"Um...at a dueling tournament?" Mai suggested.  
  
"And who are you?" he said, sitting up and looking dreamily at Mai.  
  
"No one," Mai muttered, shoving the kid's cards into his hands. "What were you doing on the ground, anyway?"  
  
"Uh..." The boy muttered, standing up and looking around.  
  
"Got into a fight?"  
  
"No, I think I was dueling..." he said vaguely, looking down at his deck.   
  
Half of his deck was in the graveyard slot. He ejected the cards and looked at them.   
  
"Yeah...yeah I was dueling...some weird little kid," The boy remarked. "And something weird happened when I lost...it was like everything got all..."  
  
"That's nice kid," Mai said in an uninterested tone. "I think you ought to get something to drink and get out of the sun."  
  
Mai stiffly walked away, not wanting to be near the boy anymore, now that he was okay.  
  
Meanwhile, Yugi, Tea, and Bakura, munching on sandwiches from the lunch buffet, where walking along a narrow strip of path by a running river below.  
  
"It sure would be nice if we could go swimming," Yugi said, wiping his forehead of sweat. "But no one brought their bathing suits."  
  
"Yeah," Bakura said, looking down into the river. "But it's probably very unsanitary. And deep too, from the looks of it."  
  
"You're probably right," Tea said, shivering at the thought of swimming with the fish and kelp and whatever else could be lurking down beneath the river's surface.  
  
There was a suddenly a noise in the bushes down the river below them. Yugi's eye caught onto a glimpse of gold.  
  
Yugi started to turn around, but his leg was locked for some odd reason. A flash of purple came from the bush, and Tea gasped.  
  
"What was that?" she asked, turning to Yugi. "Yugi!"  
  
Yugi had tried to move his leg but ended up tipping over, and falling straight down toward the river.  
  
"Yugi!" Bakura and Tea chorused as they watched their friend fall and hit the surface of the river.  
  
****  
End of Chapter Seven.  
  
Thanks for reading, and I hoped you liked it! - Seto-Kaiba  
"As always, next chapter due up tomorrow." -Red Archery Girl  
But for now, Review, review, Review! :) 


	9. Chapter Nine Nightmares, Dreams, Realiti...

Chapter Nine: Nightmares, Dreams, Realities.  
  
"Yugi! Are you alright?" Bakura called down as Yugi resurfaced.  
  
Yugi spit out some water.  
  
Yugi coughed.   
  
"Yeah," he called up to his worried friends as he swam a little back and forth. "I'm fine. Wet again, though."  
  
"Drat..." A sinister voice whispered from behind him, and Yugi heard another rustle in the bushes.  
  
He quickly turned around to see a branch waving back and forth in the bushes, but no one there.  
  
"Yugi, what's wrong?" Tea asked, climbing carefully down the slope to the river's edge and looking at him.  
  
"Nothing..." Yugi muttered distantly, still staring forward in waist-deep river-water. "I just thought I heard something in the bushes."  
  
"Well," Bakura said, coming up behind Tea. "I think you'd better get out of that river and change so you can duel again."  
  
"Aw," Yugi said playfully, swimming a lap. "You guys don't want to go swimming for a little bit?"  
  
"No thanks," Bakura muttered, turning pale at the prospect of having to wear heart pajamas again.  
  
"Come on Yugi," Tea said, reaching her hand out to help him out of the river. "Let's go! I want to get at least one more stamp before the day is out."  
  
****  
  
"I play Dark Hole!" Joey cried, causing his and all of his opponents monsters to disappear.  
  
It was sunset, around 5:15, and Joey was having one last duel before returning to the cabins.  
  
"My life points are wide open for attack!" His opponent, a teen named Bill, cried, backing up.  
  
"Right you are, Billy-boy," Joey said, slapping down a card. "Monster Reborn to revive Jinzo!"  
  
A large, green robot with red eyes appeared on Joey's field in front of him. Next to a kid with no monsters to shield him, Jinzo looked exceptionally frightening.  
  
"Yay!" Serenity cheered, clapping loudly for her brother.   
  
Triston just looked happy Joey was about to win, however, he didn't show it.  
  
"Cyber Energy Blast!" Joey cried, and Jinzo let out a black blast from his hands that attacked the teen and reduced his life points to zero.  
  
"Man! That was some fight," Bill said, walking over to Joey as the holograms disappeared. "Well, you've earned my stamp, so here you go."  
  
"Thanks," Joey said as Bill stamped his 2nd circle and walked away. "Later dude!"  
  
"Dude?" Triston asked quietly, so only Joey would hear him, coming up behind Joey.  
  
"Lay off," Joey hissed back as Serenity came skipping over.  
  
"Oh, onichan, that was great! You're the best duelist here, aren't you?" Serenity said happily as the three walked back toward the path.  
  
"Uh...me and Yugi," Joey said in a would-be-modest voice.  
  
"It's getting late," Triston said, looking at his watch. "We'd better get back to Yugi's cabin before they start to worry."  
  
Joey nodded and the three started back toward the cabin.  
  
"Look Joey," Triston said softly, pointing to a figure walking toward a cabin near their own. "It's your old pal Kaiba; why don't you, the best duelist here, challenge him to a duel?"  
  
"Idiot," Joey muttered, shoving Triston out of the way and continuing up toward the cabin.  
  
A few minutes later, the whole gang, except Kaiba and Mokuba, of course, who were not informed of this "meeting" and probably wouldn't have attended anyway, were assembled inside the cabin.  
  
Bakura was reading a book on his cot, Amber and Duke chatting near his laptop computer, Yugi and Tea reconstructing Tea's deck, and Mai sipping coffee on a chair.  
  
"Hey Joey!" Yugi called happily, waving to his friend as he walked inside. "How many stamps did you get?"  
  
"Onichan got 2!" Serenity said proudly, holding up his booklet for everyone to see.  
  
"So did I," Tea muttered sadly. "After seven duels."  
  
"Cheer up," Yugi said sympathetically, patting her shoulder. "Remember, this is your first try at something like this."  
  
Tea smiled and nodded gratefully at Yugi.  
  
"I got 2 to," Bakura said, putting down his book on top of what appeared to be a purple cushion on his nightstand. (It looked suspiciously like some embarrassing pajamas from the night before, however.  
  
"I got 3," Yugi said, still fishing through Tea's deck. "How about you, Mai?"  
  
Mai whistled and flapped open her book. Inside were three stamps as well.  
  
"Good job!" Yugi commented.  
  
A few hours later, Joey realized he hadn't asked either Amber or Duke how many stamps they had collected.  
  
"What about you two internet freaks?" Joey asked, leaning over Duke to see the front of the screen.  
  
"Move it, Joey," Duke said angrily. "I got only one because I was too busy watching Amber's games."  
  
"But I got 4," Amber said proudly, showing off her booklet.  
  
"FOUR!" Joey cried, falling on the ground.  
  
Then, he embarrassedly walked over to his own bed, ashamed to have been beaten out by a female.  
  
"That's wonderful, Amber!" Yugi said happily, walking over to her and Duke. "That means you only need two more stamps to be able to win a prize and get back my Millennium Puzzle."  
  
"Right! I'll get up early tomorrow to duel more!" Amber declared standing up.  
  
Then, she yawned.  
  
"But, I think I'm turning in now," Amber said walking to the door. "Later!"  
  
"Bye Amber!" Duke called as she left.  
  
There was still a large smile on Duke's face, even when she left, as he was watching the door.  
  
"Sheesh," Joey muttered, punching his pillow. "What does he see in that weirdo?"  
  
"Well," Tea sighed, picking up her dueling deck and walking for the door. "I'd better turn in too. Come on, Serenity."  
  
Tea linked her arm in Serenity's and the two walked off and out the door.  
  
"Oyashumi(sp)!" Serenity called to her brother as she walked out the door.  
  
Now that only the boys were left, they all changed into their pajamas, (Bakura very reluctantly) and covered up.  
  
"Good night," Yugi called, as he flicked off the light and everyone in the room fell fast asleep.  
  
Meanwhile, in the third and smallest cabin, Kaiba was typing on his laptop and Mokuba was looking through Kaiba's booklet.  
  
"Wow, Ni-sama," Mokuba said in awe. "I still don't believe that you got 5 stamps in one day!"  
  
Kaiba smiled and sent his letter.  
  
He stood up and shrugged.  
  
"I've been finding easy opponents," he explained. "I need to get more of a challenge...not Yugi, of course, as he wants to find his puzzle and without it, the duel is meaningless...but still someone strong."  
  
"I'm sure you'll find them tomorrow!" Mokuba said, giving his brother a hug and allowing himself to be tucked into bed.  
  
"Good night, Ni-sama," Mokuba called as Kaiba flicked off the lights.  
  
"Good night, Mokuba."  
  
While everyone fell into the deep sleep that comes with a hard day, outside, two people were not at rest.  
  
The evil boy from before was out on the dock, staring hard into the display case by the light of the moon.  
  
"Soon it will be mine," he muttered, gazing at the Millennium Puzzle. "Soon...when I get my final two stamps tomorrow in this ridiculous competition."  
  
Inside the puzzle, Yami was trying to open Yugi's door, but it wouldn't budge.  
  
"We've been separated," Yami thought miserably. "And I sense an evil force at work."  
  
He sauntered back into his soul room and sat down on a step.   
  
"Maybe I can send him a message, to warn him," Yami thought. "Like how Yugi's grandfather sent him a message from the Shadow Realm."  
  
Yami stood up and concentrated hard, using his shadow magic to send a dream to Yugi.  
  
Outside, the Millennium Puzzle lit up, causing the evil boy to look up.  
  
"What!?" he cried. "Someone is trying to use the powers of the puzzle? Well, I won't let them."  
  
Using his new powers that he had gained from defeating 4 duelists and taking part of their morale, he created a blue and purple force field. It reflected Yami's dream spell, messed with the "code" (if a spell could have a code. I use computer talk.) and send it whirling away into the night.  
  
"There," The boy said, rubbing his hands together. "I wonder who the poor soul will be who encounters that messed-up spell."  
  
The blue and purple mist of the spell hurtled through the air and through the window of A cabin (like Yami had instructed).  
  
However, it was the wrong one. The mist descended upon a small sleeping boy, and began to work out it's faulty magic.  
  
A bright light flashed, startling the person sleeping in the other bed.   
  
Kaiba looked over at Mokuba, who still appeared to be sleeping soundly, and rolled back over to fall asleep.  
  
But little did he know, the messed up shadow powers of Yami, and evil force of the boy, were already working on poor Mokuba's mind.  
  
****  
  
End of Chapter Eight  
  
"Poor Mokuba"  
I know how you feel, but don't worry, Chapter ten will be up soon!  
"Please review our chapter and let us know what you think!"  
:) 


	10. Chapter Ten The Victim of the Shadow Spe...

Chapter Ten: The Victim of the Shadow Spell  
  
The next morning, Yugi awoke with an odd feeling that something bad had happened. He opened his eyes and looked around. Joey was snoring, Triston was half out and half in bed, Duke was muttering something about dice, and Bakura was so buried under his blankets Yugi wasn't even sure he was still in there.  
  
Yugi sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes sleepily. It was dawn, and no duelists were outside yet.  
  
"Yugi," Came a distant voice, familiar, and warm.   
  
"Yami?" Yugi asked, looking around. "Yami, where are you?"  
  
"Yugi, I can only talk for a minute," Yami's voice continued in an urgent tone. "But I must tell you something: Last night I realized that there is an evil force on this island. The puzzle..."  
  
"I'm going to win it back!" Yugi declared. "I'll win you back, Yami!"  
  
"...but the evil force also wants the puzzle...and he has dark powers of his own..." Yami's voice began to grow faint.  
  
"My powers can only stretch to a certain extent, but last night when I tried to contact you...the evil interfered and my contact to you was distorted and it was sent off course..."  
  
"I never received any message," Yugi said, wondering. "Did someone else?"  
  
"That is what I fear..."  
  
"What would have happened to that person?" Yugi thought.  
  
"...Yu...gi...I must leave you now...you must stop the evil...and take back the puzzle..."  
  
"YAMI!" Yugi cried, causing nearly everyone else in the room to wake up with a start.  
  
"NO! A ONE?!" Duke cried, opening his eyes and springing out of bed. "Oh," he muttered, seeing it had only been a dream. "Never mind."  
  
"Who set the alarm?" Triston muttered. "Oh, ohhioh (sp)(good morning), Yugi."  
  
"Good morning, Triston," Yugi muttered, still shocked from his conversation with Yami. "Is everyone here okay? Joey?"  
  
"What?" Joey asked, sitting up sleepily. He had bed head. "Yeah, I'm good."  
  
"Why so worried, Yugi," Duke asked, putting his regular shirt on.   
  
"Bakura?" Yugi asked, ignoring Duke and tapping the lump in Bakura's bed. "Are you in there? Are you okay?"  
  
"Yes, I'm fine, why?" Came a muffled voice from Bakura's bed.  
  
Yugi sighed with relief.   
  
"I don't think it could have gone far, so let's check the girl's room," Yugi said, springing up and running for the door, still in his PJs and barefoot.  
  
"Whoa, whoa, Yugi!" Duke said, standing up and running over to the door to catch Yugi. "First of all, you can't just go barging into the girl's cabin when they're probably in their PJs or getting dressed or something."  
  
"Yeah," Yugi muttered anxiously, looking out the window.  
  
"But why the hurry?" Duke questioned.  
  
Yugi explained about the messed contact spell, and how someone else could have been hurt by the evil and faulted shadow magic.  
  
"Let's go then!" Duke cried.  
  
Four of the five boys trooped out of the cabin. (Bakura seized the opportunity to be alone, pulled the shades, and changed out of the ridiculous hearts.)  
  
Meanwhile, Seto Kaiba had awoken and gotten dressed, letting Mokuba keep sleeping. After eating a breakfast of a little box of cereal provided by the island's company, he walked over to his little brother's bed. '  
  
Mokuba was still sound asleep.  
  
"I should wake him and at least tell him that I'm going," Kaiba thought, gently rocking Mokuba back and forth. "Mokuba?"  
  
Mokuba did nothing. He didn't even stir.  
  
"Mokuba?" Kaiba tried again, more roughly this time, but Mokuba didn't respond. He didn't move at all.  
  
Mokuba usually always woke up bright and early, not to mention almost instantly when Kaiba tried to wake him.  
  
Kaiba slid his hand under Mokuba's bangs to see if he was running a fever, but he felt perfectly normal.  
  
"What's the matter here?" Kaiba thought, starting to panic a little.  
  
Yugi knocked lightly on the cabin door to the girl's rooms. He and the other three behind him heard the girls moving around inside, and then the door opened a crack.  
  
"Oh," Tea sighed, opening it a little more. "It's just you, Yugi. What's up?"  
  
"Is everyone...okay in there?" Yugi asked, feeling more stupid by the second as the ridiculousness of his words sank in.  
  
"Uh...we're all awake and we were about to get dressed," Tea explained. "Why?"  
  
Yugi once again launched into a quick explanation of what happened, and Tea thought for a moment.  
  
"Maybe no one was affected by it," Tea suggested, starting to close the door. "Can we talk more in a few minutes?"  
  
"Sure," Yugi said, putting his hands up and smiling embarrassedly. "See you in a few minutes!"  
  
A couple minutes later, the boys were all dressed and outside, and were shortly joined by the girls.  
  
"I'm ready to find a duel, so see you later, boys," Mai said with a wink as she trotted off down a path, now quickly filling with duelists.  
  
"Come on, Duke," Amber said, tugging Duke's arm. "Just two more and I'll have the Millennium Puzzle back!"  
  
"Okay...Amber!" Duke cried, as he was tugged away. "Later!" he called to Yugi.  
  
"Okay, I'd better find some duelists," Yugi said, now relieved that nothing had happened to anyone.   
  
He and Tea, (The others all went in another direction) walked past the girl's cabin and were about to keep on walking when Yugi noticed Kaiba and Mokuba's cabin.  
  
"Oh, do you think we ought to check with them?" Yugi asked, walking towards the front door.  
  
"If it'll make you feel better," Tea said as Yugi tapped on the door.  
  
A few minutes later, Kaiba opened the door.  
  
"What?" he asked shortly, looking slightly nervous.  
  
"What's wrong?" Yugi asked, peering inside.  
  
As reluctant as Kaiba was to accept help from Yugi, he had no other choice. If Yugi knew anything about what was wrong with Mokuba, he had to ask.  
  
Kaiba sighed and led Yugi and Tea inside.  
  
"Mokuba," he said in a low voice. "He won't wake no matter what I do. It's as if he's in a trans... or something..."  
  
Tea and Yugi looked down at Mokuba, and at once realized what had happened.  
  
"He was the one," Yugi said sadly. "He was hit with a faulted shadow spell, and now his mind is in the shadow realm, or worse."  
  
"Or worse?" Kaiba asked frantically. "What's going to happen to him? How can you stop the spell?"  
  
"I don't know," Yugi admitted. "But I do know one thing. That boy who knocked Bakura out was the evil force Yami was talking about. If Bakura can remember what the boy looked like, we can find him and duel him for Mokuba's mind."  
  
Kaiba bit his lip.  
  
"Mokuba's fate relies on the memory of a boy who wore heart pajamas to bed?" Kaiba thought bitterly. "I only hope his memory is better than his taste in clothes."  
  
"Let's go!" Yugi said, running for the door.  
  
"Wait," Tea said, putting her hand up. "Someone has to take care of Mokuba."  
  
"Good idea," Yugi said. "You do that, Tea. Kaiba and I will go and track down and defeat that evil boy."  
  
Yugi started for the door again, but stopped. Kaiba wasn't following. He was staring at Mokuba.  
  
"I want to help defeat the jerk who made him like this," Kaiba thought. "But I don't want to leave him..."  
  
Yugi understood what Kaiba was thinking.  
  
"Kaiba...you can stay if you want," Yugi muttered. "I understand what you're thinking. I can deal with the evil force by myself."  
  
"I can deal with the force! It's my brother, after all," Kaiba said, his pride beginning to hurt.  
  
"I know, but I think you should stay here with him," Yugi said, Tea walking over to him.  
  
Kaiba paused, then nodded. As much as he hated to rely on someone else, Mokuba needed him here. He could only hope Yugi was good enough to handle the "evil" by himself...  
  
End of Chapter Ten  
"Please Review, and thanks for reading!"  
Next chapter due by at LEAST tomorrow morning, however, there might be more tonight.  
"Come back soon!" :) 


	11. Chapter Eleven Crushing Amber

Chapter Eleven: Crushing Amber  
  
Yugi and Tea walked outside and looked around. Everything seemed like it had yesterday. A few duels had already started, and the kids were enjoying themselves in the morning air.  
  
"Now, which way did Bakura go?" Yugi asked, looking right and left down two different paths.  
  
"He went with Serenity, Joey, and Triston that way!" Tea called, rushing ahead and down the path, leaving Yugi to run double team to catch up with her.  
  
Meanwhile, Duke and Amber were deep in the middle of duels of their own.  
  
"Red Archery Girl, Attack!" Amber declared.  
  
"Orgoth, attack!" Duke called, and both monsters attacked their opponent's and reduced their life points to zero at the same time.  
  
Duke laughed and Amber giggled as BOTH of their opponent's looked shocked at their defeats.  
  
"Stamp please," Amber said, showing her book to her opponent, who reluctantly stamped her booklet and then hurried away to find another opponent.  
  
Duke collected his stamp and the two started to look for another duel.  
  
"So, how have things been for you, Amber?" Duke asked.  
  
Amber had visited Japan recently, but had to return to America. The two stayed in close contact with each other with e-mail and instant messages.  
  
"Oh fine," she said happily. "I mean, I'm entering tournaments, doing lots of game-related things, and all that sort of stuff."  
  
She sighed.  
  
"But then...there's nobody like you around," she said softly. "I missed you."  
  
"Well, let's not talk about that today," he said happily, as he had when he first told Amber he had to return to Japan. "Cheer up! You're one duel away from winning Yugi back the Millennium Puzzle!"  
  
Amber smiled again.  
  
"Yeah! Now who will be the next unlucky duelists I face?" she said proudly, turning around to see the whole scope of the duelists nearby.  
  
"I have a feeling YOU will be the unlucky duelist," A strange voice from behind the two cackled.  
  
Amber and Duke whirled around to see the boy; the black haired, gold glasses boy. Of course, they had no idea he was the evil force...  
  
"Is that a challenge?" Amber asked, perking up her ears at the prospect of another victory.  
  
"If you want," The evil boy said, activating his dueling disk. "Let's go!"  
  
"Okay!"  
  
"Good luck, Amber!" Duke called, deciding to watch her final duel rather than find another one for himself at the moment.  
  
"Bakura?" Yugi called, running down the path as fast as he could. "Bakura?"  
  
"Bakura?" Tea called, following Yugi. "Where are you?"  
  
"Is someone calling me?" Bakura asked, coming up behind them.  
  
"Oh!" Yugi sighed, leaning over and panting for breath. "Yeah...we...need..."  
  
"We...need...you..." Tea continued, gasping for breath as she leaned over a tree trunk.  
  
"Need you..."  
  
"Need me to what?!" Bakura cried, looking nervous.  
  
Yugi caught his breath and stood up straighter.  
  
"Sorry, but we need you to tell us, if you can remember, what the odd boy you faced first yesterday looked like," Yugi blurted out.  
  
"What he LOOKED like?" Bakura repeated, thinking. "Well, it wasn't exactly a face you forget...he had black hair and the weirdest gold-rimmed glasses."  
  
"Yes?" Yugi encouraged him to go on.  
  
"And...he was wearing purple yesterday, but I don't know about today...I haven't seen him," Bakura continued, scratching the ground with the tip of his shoe. "And he had a strange purple bracelet on his wrist. And that's about it."  
  
Yugi scribbled down the descriptions on the back of his booklet, then took off down the path.  
  
"Yugi!" Tea cried.  
  
"Where are you going?" Bakura asked, looking at him.  
  
"To find that evil boy!" Yugi called back. "Let's go!"  
  
Bakura shrugged at Tea and the two hurried after Yugi.  
  
*****  
  
Kaiba sat on a chair next to Mokuba's bedside, staring down at his little brother. This was the second time he'd been in the "shadow world" or whatever Yugi liked to call it.  
  
"There's nothing I can do here," Kaiba thought bitterly to himself. "I should have gone to find that "evil". Then I would be helping Mokuba, and not having to rely on someone else to save him."  
  
A bird chirped outside. A duel monster dinosaur roared. Some kids cheered and some others yelled, but Kaiba hardly heard any of it. He was too busy worrying.  
  
*****  
  
"Go, Red Archery Girl!" Amber cried, ordering her monster to attack the evil boy's face down card.  
  
Red Archery Girl pulled back an arrow and let it rip through the air and slash through the holographic card.  
  
"You've activated the Princess of Tsurugi's special ability: For every magic and trap card you own on the field, you lose 500 life points!"  
  
"Great!" Amber hissed, looking at her three traps and field card. "That's 2000 life points!"  
  
Amber's life points went down to 1800.  
  
"Ee, that wasn't good." Duke thought. "If he has anymore of those cards, Amber will be devastated!"  
  
Yugi and Bakura and Tea ran down the paths, examining each duelist from a distance.   
  
"Not one of them fits the description," Yugi said.  
  
"Yeah," Bakura sighed, looking around. "Do you think he's already got another victim?"  
  
"I hope not!" Yugi cried, running faster. "If he has, not only is that trouble for the opponent, but he'll be even closer to winning my puzzle!"  
  
"We've got to find him, before he does anymore harm to anyone else!" Tea puffed.  
  
Yugi and the other two climbed a hill and were just reaching the peak when they suddenly saw something that made their blood run cold.  
  
"Is that...he?" Tea whispered in disbelief.  
  
"And he's dueling..." Yugi continued.  
  
"With Amber!" Bakura finished.  
  
Yugi broke into a sprint and started for the location of their duel.  
  
"We've got to stop her before it's too late!" Yugi cried.  
  
"You can do it Amber!" Duke cheered from the sidelines, unaware of the danger.  
  
"I've only got one more turn to do this," Amber thought, summoning the Amazon Archer to the field to join her Cure Mermaid and Red Archery Girl.   
  
Then, she flipped the Man-Eater Bug, destroying the boy's defense (Another princess,) and leaving his life points wide open for attack.  
  
"I win!" Amber thought. "Everyone, attack!"  
  
"Stop, foolish girl!" The boy cried, flipping open his trap card. "JUST DESSERTS!"  
  
"No!" Amber cried.  
  
"No!" Duke chorused.   
  
Amber would lose 2000 life points for that, and she only had 1800 left. That would mean...she would lose!  
  
"The game is over!" Bakura cried, looking ahead as they approached the area. "She lost!"  
  
"No!" Yugi cried, as they arrived at the area.  
  
"You've lost, foolish one, and now you will pay," The boy said, his eyes growing with evil.  
  
"Yeah, with a stamp," Amber said, holding it out.  
  
"NO!" The boy cried, and Amber's body froze. "With your spirit!"  
  
"Stop!" Duke cried, running forward, but he was shot backwards by another force.  
  
Amber was surrounded by a purple haze that went from her to the bracelet around the boy's wrist. After several minutes, the haze disappeared, and Amber fell limply to the ground.  
  
Duke and Tea hurried over to her. Yugi looked to stunned to do anything for a minute.  
  
"How could you?" Bakura asked angrily, getting more courage then he usually had. "That's terrible!"  
  
Yugi found his voice.  
  
"You won't get away with this," he choked. "Not with what you did to Amber, Mokuba, or Bakura earlier. Because of your interference, Mokuba's mind is in the Shadow Realm. I'll duel you, and when I win, you must undo everything you have done to them!"  
  
"Fine," The boy snapped, eager to win over Yugi and claim his even higher morale. "I've been strengthened by that girl's high spirit, and now I will claim yours, AND the Millennium Puzzle, and possess power's unimaginable!"  
  
"No you won't!" Yugi declared.  
  
"Amber?" Duke asked, shaking her back and forth.  
  
"Amber, are you all right?" Tea asked.  
  
"Yugi, you duel him and win!" Tea cried, standing up. "We'll take Amber back to the cabin and come back afterwards. Good luck!"  
  
"You'll need it," The boy thought evilly.  
  
"It's time to duel!" Yugi declared.  
  
*****  
  
End of Chapter Eleven.  
  
"Yahoo! I was used AGAIN! But poor Amber!"  
Yes, but don't worry Red, Yugi's going to duel him.  
"And you better not write anything else bad into the story!"  
Please review and come back soon! Next chapter due sometime between today and tomorrow. :) 


	12. Chapter 12 The Great Battle Begins

Chapter 12: The Great Duel  
  
Duke and Tea quickly, though carefully, carried Amber down the paths through the forest and back up to the cabins.  
  
"Don't worry Amber," Duke thought. "Yugi will win."  
  
"What did that JERK even mean by "I have been strengthened by her spirit?"  
  
The walked up the stairs to the first one they came upon (which happened to be Kaiba's) and Duke kicked on the door. (His hands were too full to knock properly)  
  
"Hey! Open up!" Duke shouted.  
  
A few seconds later, Kaiba opened the door to see Duke and Tea supporting an unconscious Amber. Kaiba raised an eyebrow.  
  
"What happened?" he asked.  
  
"That crazy, evil, JERK defeated Amber and hurt her!" Duke cried angrily.  
  
"Can you please look after her?" Tea asked, started to slump a little under Amber's weight.  
  
"Uh...fine," Kaiba said awkwardly, stepping aside and letting them inside. "I'm going to be in here anyway," he added, thinking of an excuse for being helpful.  
  
"There's an extra bed on the other side of the room."  
  
Duke and Tea laid Amber out on the bed, and then turned around.  
  
"Where is Yugi?" Kaiba asked, wondering how long it would be before his brother would wake up again.  
  
"About to duel that creepy kid," Tea shuddered. "We've got to get back and cheer him on, Duke!"  
  
She hurried for the door.  
  
"Duke?" she asked.  
  
Duke was staring sadly down at Amber.  
  
"Coming," Duke said, walking toward the door to join her.  
  
"Now, you'd better look after her!" Tea said sternly.  
  
"Mm," Kaiba muttered vaguely, looking out the window.  
  
Tea turned around and shut the door, silence descending upon the room again.  
  
"Yugi," Kaiba thought privately to himself. "You have to win."  
  
****  
  
Bakura looked on as Yugi began his duel with the boy. Both duelists started up their duel disks and drew their opening hands.  
  
"Accepting this challenge Yugi, will be your fatal error," The boy said evilly.  
  
"I don't think so," Yugi rebuked. "But before we begin, who are you anyway? Why do you want the puzzle, and how do you have these strange powers?"  
  
The boy laughed.  
  
"My outer appearance," he chuckled. "Looks to be the boy called "Taerro," however, I am not that person."  
  
"Not that person?" Bakura echoed. "Is he some sort of evil spirit?"  
  
Yugi looked back at the boy.   
  
"Why are you in Taerro's body?" he asked, though it was needless too.  
  
Like the evil spirit that often possessed Bakura, he most likely only wanted a "host," a body.  
  
"I need someone to do my bidding," he chuckled, picking his first card. "I have powers that have been with me for some time, but in order to use them in this boy's body, I have to store them somewhere."  
  
"But enough about me, let's continue your duel to your demise!" Taerro cried, slapping a monster card in attack mode. "Go, Jinzo #7!"  
  
A machine type monster appeared before them. His attack power was 350.  
  
"One other card, face down," Taerro declared. "This turn is over."  
  
"My turn!" Yugi declared, picking a card.  
  
"This is exactly what he played against me Yugi!" Bakura cried from behind him. "Be careful! This is..."  
  
"Be quiet!" Taerro snapped. "Or I'll be forced to drain more of you as well."  
  
Bakura closed his mouth, looking terrified, but hoped he'd at least put Yugi on his guard.  
  
"I play," Yugi declared, looking at his monster. "This one. The Celtic Guardian!"  
  
The elf-swordsman appeared on the field, posed for attack.  
  
"Destroy the Jinzo #7!"   
  
The Celtic Guardian rushed forward, but became ensnared in a light blue circle. He tried to move, but it was useless.  
  
"What's wrong?" Yugi cried.  
  
"What's wrong is my trap card, that's what," Taerro chuckled, flipping it over.  
  
"Gravity Bind!" Yugi cried, horrified.  
  
"Yes, now no monster with over 3 stars may attack," Taerro said, drawing his card gleefully. "On the contrary, but monster, with level one, may certainly attack."  
  
"But it can't beat my Celtic Guardian," Yugi pointed out.  
  
"You fool!" Taerro laughed. "My Jinzo #7 has a special ability! It can attack you directly!"  
  
The Jinzo #7 Rushed past the Celtic monster and slashed through Yugi.  
  
"Ahh," Yugi cried, as his life points dropped to 3500.  
  
Taerro laughed maniacally.  
  
"See? There's no way to win! Every turn while you're locked down, I will continue to attack with my machine monster, making your life points fall! One monster in defense mode," he added.  
  
"And another face down card," he declared. "Your move."  
  
Yugi looked at his hand, discouraged.  
  
"I don't have any level 3 monsters in my hand," Yugi sighed, drawing a new card, which was Beta the Magnate Warrior. "And none of my level 4 and higher monsters can attack! I need to get rid of Gravity Bind, or else I'll be demolished by Jinzo #7 in less than 7 turns!"  
  
"I summon Dark Magician Girl, by sacrificing the Celtic Guardian," Yugi declared, his favorite monster's apprentice appearing before him. "And I set twp cards face down. Your move!"  
  
"Yugi is good," Bakura thought sadly. "But even my deck didn't stand a chance against his strategy. Yugi will put all his energy into defeating Gravity Bind and Jinzo #7, only to find himself locked into another problem that is even MORE difficult."  
  
"Can he win, and help everyone?" Bakura thought as Taerro drew his next card...  
  
End of Chapter 12  
  
"Sorry if it's a little short, but next chapter will be up soon!"  
Yes! But please, REVIEW! And thank you SO much to every who has reviewed up until now! :) 


	13. Chapter 13 Truth

Chapter 13: Truth  
  
"That Dark Magician Girl won't help you!" Taerro laughed, drawing his card. "She's Gravity Bound, and she won't protect your life points against my attack from Jinzo #7. Attack!"  
  
Jinzo rushed forward and reduced Yugi's life points to a further 3000.  
  
"Ahh!" Yugi cried, watching his life points fall.  
  
"Hang on, Yugi!" Bakura cheered.   
  
"And I'll set one card, face down. Your move!" Taerro announced.  
  
"Face down?" Yugi thought picking his card. "Oh yes! Fissure! It will destroy the weakest monster on your field, or, if you only have one, that one!"  
  
"Not so fast," Taerro declared, activating his face-down card. "Magic Jammer! I give up one card from my hand and destroy your magic card."  
  
"Oh no," Yugi mumbled, tossing Fissure in the graveyard.  
  
"Oh yes," Taerro said, taking his turn. "Jinzo #7, and my new creature, Queen's Double, both, directly attack Yugi!"  
  
The two monsters rushed forward and decreased poor Yugi's life points to 2150.  
  
"Yugi!"   
  
Yugi turned around and saw Tea and Duke, climbing back up the hill up next to Bakura.  
  
"Guys," he said.  
  
"Come on Yugi!" Tea cheered, taking over Bakura's cheerleading.  
  
"It's pointless to cheerlead when you know you'll never win," Taerro snapped. "I've got skill far surpassing yours."  
  
"How are you able to possess Taerro?" Yugi asked, changing topics. "Where did you come from?"  
  
Taerro crossed his arms.  
  
"Not that you need to know, but I suppose I'll tell you anyway," Evil Taerro chucked. "Foolish, naïve Taerro was wandering around an old antique shop when he accidentally shattered an ancient Egyptian tablet...a tablet that my spirit had been sealed into."  
  
"Beg your pardon?" Duke asked, rubbing his finger in his ear.  
  
"The priests of the ancient Pharaoh had sealed my spirit inside that tablet because they felt my powers were becoming a...threat to the people of the town," Taerro explained. "But anyway, when Taerro broke the stone, he freed me, though I was still only a spirit."  
  
Yugi and his friends listened attentively to what this evil spirit was saying, and were horrified at what he said next.   
  
"I possessed him," he chuckled. "I entered his body and my strong spirit easily overcame his weak one. I am now the main controller of this body."  
  
"I can relate to Taerro; the REAL Taerro," Bakura thought, remembering all the trouble he had with the evil spirit of the Millennium Ring.  
  
But for now, Yugi had gotten rid of the spirit, at least he thought he had, and maybe Yugi could help this Taerro too...  
  
"You're using the REAL Taerro?" Tea asked, shocked.  
  
Evil Taerro laughed.  
  
"Yes," he chuckled. "However, in order to access my powers, I need somewhere else to put them; somewhere unnoticeable and yet easy to access while I was in the body..."  
  
"That bracelet!" Yugi gasped angrily.  
  
"Ooh, you're a clever one, aren't you," Evil Taerro chuckled. "However, not clever enough to win this duel; at least not without the help out your Millennium Puzzle."  
  
"No! You can win, Yugi!" Tea cheered.  
  
Yugi turned around and looked at his friend's determined faces.  
  
Bakura nodded.  
  
"You've GOT to - to rescue Amber and Mokuba," Duke pointed out. "Just believe in yourself; that's what Yami would say."  
  
Yugi's eyes lit up at the thought of his partner.   
  
"That IS what Yami would say," he thought, putting his hand on his deck, preparing to pick his next card. "Thanks, Duke."  
  
Yugi drew his card carefully and slowly, and put it in front of his face before opening his eyes.  
  
"YES!" he cried, putting down a monster. "Giant Soldier of Stone, in attack mode!"  
  
"What good is putting up monsters if they can't attack?" Taerro yawned boredly.  
  
"Don't be in such a hurry," Yugi said kindly. "Gravity Bind only prevents those with a level greater than 3 from attacking. But Giant Soldier of Stone IS a level 3 monster; therefore, he can attack! Jinzo #7!"  
  
"No!" Taerro cried as the soldier broke Jinzo #7 in a swift stroke of his stone sword.  
  
Taerro's life points fell to 3200.  
  
"It's your move!" Yugi called.  
  
"I'll defend with the Queen, and play a card face down."  
  
Yugi drew his card.   
  
"Giant Soldier, attack!"  
  
The soldier killed off the Queen as well.  
  
"Yugi's winning!" Tea cheered happily, hopping up and down.  
  
"Well, not for long," Taerro chuckled. "Just desserts!"  
  
"No!" Yugi cried, as his life points dropped to 1250, 500 for every monster on his field.  
  
"And I'm afraid I have nothing else to do on this turn," Taerro muttered.  
  
"Good, maybe he has no monsters left," Yugi thought, drawing his card. "Go! Giant Soldier! Attack the life points directly!"  
  
Taerro's life fell to 1900.  
  
Taerro angrily drew his card.  
  
"Still nothing!" he hissed, slapping another card face down.  
  
"Attack!" Yugi called, but Taerro activated another trap, and although it had nothing to block the attack, it was yet another Just Desserts!"  
  
"My life points!" Yugi cried, looking down at them.  
  
They had been reduced to 250.  
  
But Giant Soldier's attack had reduced Taerro to 600, so it was still anyone's game.  
  
Yugi looked at his hand and saw a powerful trap.  
  
"I'll set this one facedown," he said, shoving the trap card into it's proper slot. "And I'll end this turn!"  
  
Taerro picked his card, and began to laugh.  
  
"Yugi," he muttered with a maniac grin. "You've just ended your FINAL turn! Go! Ookazi!"  
  
"Oh my!" Bakura cried. "That magic card will let the opponent suffer 800 points of direct damage!"  
  
"That would bring Yugi down to zero!" Tea shrieked. "YUGI!"  
  
But Yugi activated his trap.  
  
"Mystic Ref Pannell!" Yugi cried, letting lose a fairy holding a mirror in front of her.   
  
She sucked all of the flames from the Ookazi card into the mirror.  
  
"Now, the Ookazi card is in my control!" Yugi declared. "And now I choose to fire it at YOUR life points rather than mine!"  
  
"No! That will deplete my life points instead of yours!" Taerro cried, looking as the Ookazi flames surrounded him and reduced his life to zero.  
  
"No!" he cried, falling to the ground in defeat.  
  
"Yes!" Yugi said happily, looking at Taerro on the ground. "Now..."  
  
"Hey, Yugi!" Came a familiar voice from behind him.  
  
Everyone, aside from Taerro, looked behind them to see Mai Valentine, walking happily up the hill, holding something gold and familiar dangling from a chain in her hands.  
  
"It's the Millennium Puzzle!" Yugi cried, running forward and taking it from Mai. "So does that mean..." Yugi asked, putting the puzzle on.  
  
Mai flapped open her booklet to reveal six stamped circles.  
  
"Just remember, kid," she said to him with a wink. "Whatever prize you get is mine!"  
  
"Sure!" Yugi said happily, running back over to Taerro. "Now, I won, so free everyone that you harmed!" Yami declared, replacing Yugi.  
  
"NO!" Taerro cried, the bracelet beginning to glow.  
  
"Some people never learn," Yami muttered, flinging out his hand. "MIND CRUSH!"  
  
Taerro screamed as Yami shattered the evil spirit, and the real Taerro fell to the ground.  
  
He sat up and rubbed his eyes.  
  
"Who? What? Where am I?" he asked nervously, looking around at all the unfamiliar faces.  
  
"Well, for starters, you're at a duel monster tournament," Yami explained.  
  
"Why?"  
  
Yugi and everyone else laughed, and filled Taerro in on what the evil spirit had been doing with his body for the past few days.  
  
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Taerro exclaimed, looking down at his feet. "I never meant to hurt anyone."  
  
"Don't worry," Bakura said comfortingly, putting his arm around the other boy's shoulder. "It's happened to me before, too. And I'm sure now that the evil is gone, everyone is okay!"  
  
"Yeah!" Duke cried happily, starting to sprint back to the cabins. "I'm going to see if Amber's awake!!"  
  
Everyone ran after him.  
  
****  
  
Amber's eyes snapped open and she looked around. She sat up and rubbed her eyes.  
  
"Wow, where am I?" she asked, in English.  
  
Kaiba raised an eyebrow at her.  
  
"Oh, sorry!" she muttered, in Japanese. "But what's going on?"  
  
"You were supposedly attacked by an evil force," Kaiba muttered, more interested in Mokuba. "If she's awake, that means Yugi has won," he thought to himself.  
  
"Well, uh...thanks for everything," Amber said nervously, backing up toward the doorway. "But I think I'm going to go find my buddies now!"  
  
She opened the door and collided with Duke. The two fell to the ground.  
  
Duke rubbed his head and looked up.  
  
"Amber?" he asked, happily.  
  
"Duke!" she replied, standing up.  
  
"Are you okay?" he asked her.  
  
She nodded.  
  
"Yeah!"  
  
Yugi and the others walked inside, (everyone, that is, except Joey, Serenity, and Tristan, who are still off somewhere on the island)  
  
Yugi walked over to Kaiba, who was still staring down at Mokuba.  
  
"Has Mokuba woken up yet?" Yugi asked.  
  
Kaiba shook his head.  
  
Yugi pondered for a minute, then gasped.  
  
"What is it?" Kaiba asked, startled.  
  
"Well, by defeating and destroying the evil spirit inside Taerro, we undid everything he himself had done," Yugi said slowly and sadly. "But...but Mokuba...that was Yami's spell that put him there."  
  
"So there's no undoing it?" Kaiba gasped.  
  
"I don't know..." Yugi muttered, looking at the ground.  
  
Kaiba's eyes filled with tears as he looked down at his little brother, who now, might never wake again...  
  
End of Chapter 13  
"Poor, Mokuba!"  
:( Yes, yes, but don't worry! Next chapter up soon!  
Please Review! 


	14. Chapter 14 Trip to the Shadow Realm

Chapter 14: Visit to the Shadow Realm  
  
"Why?" Kaiba asked himself, turning his back on Yugi and his friends so that they couldn't see his face. "Why Mokuba?"  
  
"Let me talk to Yami," Yugi said quickly and hurried off into the puzzle.  
  
"Yami?" he asked his partner.  
  
"I'm sorry, Yugi," Yami muttered sadly. "I never meant to hurt anyone."  
  
"I know you didn't!" Yugi exclaimed. "But please, can you try to get him back?"  
  
Yami stared sadly into Yugi's eyes.  
  
"I don't quite know how," he admitted.  
  
"But we have to do something," Yugi said desperately. "We've got to just try!"  
  
Yami nodded.  
  
"You're right," he said. "But I'm still not sure I can do this."  
  
"Don't worry!" Yugi said as the two switched minds.  
  
"Kaiba," Yami said, walking forward.  
  
"What?" Kaiba asked, his voice choked.  
  
"I'm going to the Shadow Realm for a minute to see if I can find Mokuba anywhere," Yami explained, the Millennium Eye symbol appearing on his forehead.  
  
"That's dangerous!" Tea cried, clinging onto Yami's arm. "I'll go with you!"  
  
"No, Tea," Yami said, gently pushing her arm away. "I'm going alone. I don't want to put anyone else in danger again."  
  
"Oh..." Tea muttered, backing away, her eyes opened wide. "Good luck."  
  
Yami nodded and closed his eyes. A second later, when he opened them, he was standing in a purple misty area; the shadow realm. Little Yugi appeared beside him.  
  
"Yami?" he asked. "Where should we begin?"  
  
Yami sighed.  
  
"This is where I don't know," he admitted, turning to his partner. "The Shadow Realm is vast and full of dangers. If Mokuba's mind is here, there's little chance we could find it."  
  
Yugi swallowed.  
  
"But there's still a chance!" Yugi cried, and ran off in the mist. "Meet back here in a couple minutes!" he called back to Yami.  
  
Yami nodded, even though Yugi was much too far away to see it.  
  
Back in the real world, Yugi's body stood there, eyes closed, not moving a muscle. Tea watching it anxiously.  
  
"I hope Yami and Yugi don't get hurt trying to rescue Mokuba," she thought nervously. "Come back soon!"  
  
Mai shifted around.  
  
"Well, I guess I'm not very useful here, so I'll just step outside to...find Joey," she said, walking for the door.  
  
Amber and Duke quietly followed her, and were soon joined by Bakura and Taerro, who were still talking.  
  
"YAMI!" Yugi cried from inside the Shadow Realm.  
  
A large, green dragon had appeared in front of him, mouth open and teeth bared.  
  
Yami quickly ran to Yugi, but realized his deck was not with him.  
  
"We have to leave, aibou,(partner)" he instructed, and in a flash of white light, they returned to the normal realm.  
  
"Did you find him?" Tea asked as Yugi got adjusted to his stiff body again.  
  
Yugi shook his head.  
  
"We don't know where to look," he explained. "It's like Mokuba's so lost we don't know where he would be..."  
  
Yugi trailed off. Saying that had given him and idea.  
  
When Mai's mind was lost in the Shadow Realm during her duel with Yami Malik, and she couldn't even remember half of Yugi's friends, Joey was able to reach out to her, and because he cared about her so much, she recovered her memory.  
  
Yugi's eyes wandered over to Kaiba, who was sitting down looking depressed.   
  
"If perhaps we took Kaiba with us, Yami, he could find Mokuba more easily than we can!" Yugi suggested. "Because of the bond between the two!"  
  
Yami thought for a minute.  
  
"If you think it will work," he agreed.  
  
"Kaiba?" Yugi asked, tapping Kaiba's shoulder very gently.  
  
"Yes?" Kaiba asked, his voice low and uninterested.  
  
"I think maybe if you come with us to the Shadow Realm, you can find Mokuba a lot easier than we can," Yugi suggested.  
  
Kaiba stood up and for a second, to Yugi at least, he just stood there. (though he was really rubbing tears out of his eyes.)  
  
"That will work?" he asked, turning around.  
  
"Well, it's the...next idea," Yugi said, not wanting to admit it was probably their last.  
  
"All right then," Kaiba agreed. "How do you get to the Shadow Realm?"  
  
"Easy, just use the puzzle's power and everything in this room is transported to the Shadow Realm," Yami explained, and the whole room was suddenly surrounded by the eerie shadow mist.  
  
"Yugi!" Tea cried, clutching his arm again.  
  
"Oh no! I brought you too, Tea?" Yami asked.  
  
Tea nodded as something larger slithered around in the Shadows.  
  
"But this time me have our deck," Yugi pointed out.  
  
Kaiba walked away from them, keeping an eye open for his brother.  
  
"If Mokuba was lost, where would he be?" he thought to himself.  
  
Of course, if he were every lost in the city, he would just call him, and Kaiba would pick him up, but this was a completely different matter.  
  
"Mokuba!" he called, looking around. "Mokuba?!"  
  
There was no sound for a moment. Then, there was a terrible rumble and a large monster, a REAL monster appeared in front of him.  
  
It was a dragon, black with red eyes.   
  
"The Red Eyes Black Dragon," Kaiba cried, stepping backwards.  
  
He pulled the top card off his deck. It was the Gadget Soldier.  
  
"Not good enough," he muttered, backing away from the fire breathing dragon.  
  
He closed his eyes and drew with his heart.  
  
When he opened them again to see what it was, it was just what he needed.  
  
"Blue Eyes White Dragon!" Kaiba cried, holding it up.  
  
A large blue and white dragon appeared before him, and the two dragons fought. The Blue Eyes eventually destroyed the other dragon.  
  
"Thank you, Blue Eyes," Kaiba said, wanting to pat his dragon, but resisted the urge in case it wasn't as friendly as he thought.  
  
Then, an idea struck him.  
  
"Blue Eyes," he asked, and the dragon turned its head toward him.  
  
"Can you please go try to find Mokuba's spirit?" Kaiba asked the dragon. "He'll recognize you, and you can fly over everything else."  
  
The Blue Eyes nodded its head once, and flew off into the purple mist.  
  
Kaiba shivered.   
  
Not that he was scared, but being alone in another realm filled with monsters was not his idea of fun, especially when his most powerful monster had just flown away.  
  
Kaiba waiting for a few minutes, and then he saw his dragon flying back to him, with Mokuba!  
  
Mokuba, of course, was only a spirit form, but he was there with the dragon. They landed on the ground and Kaiba rushed over to them.  
  
"Thank you," he told the dragon again.  
  
"Ni-sama?" Mokuba asked, floating over to Kaiba. "Where are we?"\  
  
"We can talk about that later," Kaiba said shortly, getting back on the Blue Eyes. "But for now, we need to get out of here!"  
  
Mokuba nodded and floated over to his brother.  
  
"Find Yugi," Kaiba instructed the Blue Eyes, and they were once again off the ground and in the air.  
  
A few seconds later, the descended next to a frightened Tea and a surprised Yugi.  
  
"You found him!" Yugi cried happily.  
  
Kaiba nodded.  
  
There was a terrible shriek from behind them, as if from a monster.  
  
The Blue Eyes turned around and started to walk away.  
  
"Wait!" Kaiba called, but the Blue Eyes gave him a look that told him what he was doing. "Thanks again," Kaiba called after the dragon.  
  
It nodded and flew off into the mist to deal with whatever was going to try to harm his master.  
  
Mokuba's spirit went over and got back inside of his body as Yugi transported them out of the Shadow Realm. Kaiba watched anxiously as Mokuba's eyes slowly opened.  
  
"Ni-sama!" he cried, leaping up and wrapping his arms around his brother.   
  
Despite the fact Yugi and Tea were watching, Kaiba hugged him back. Who cared what they thought? He had Mokuba back.  
  
***  
  
End of Chapter 14. There's one more Chapter remaining, so come back tomorrow for the total conclusion.  
"Yeah, but at least everyone's safe!" 


	15. Chapter 15 Concluding

Chapter 15: Concluding  
  
After a few moments, Mokuba and Kaiba finally let go of each other.   
  
"What really happened, Ni-sama?" Mokuba asked, rather confused. "I don't really understand. It was sort of like a bad dream...with a good ending."  
  
"Aibou," Yami Yugi called.  
  
Yugi went into the Millennium Puzzle to talk to his friend, leaving Tea and the Kaiba brothers alone.  
  
"Yes, Yami?" Yugi asked.  
  
"I wanted to thank you for everything," Yami said happily. "You were able to defeat the evil force, help the real Taerro and he came up with the idea to save Mokuba.  
  
Yugi looked flattered.  
  
"Well, you helped too," Yugi said modestly, smiling.  
  
"Yugi?"  
  
"Yugi?" Tea called, and Yugi reappeared.  
  
"Sorry," Yugi apologized. "Yami wanted to say something...what is it?"  
  
"Well, I just remembered," she said looking outside. "You still need to get Taerro's stamp, and then you only need to win two more duels before you can get a prize."  
  
"And you only need one more, Ni-sama!" Mokuba added, hopping up.  
  
Kaiba nodded.  
  
"You're right!" Yugi cried, suddenly remembering. "I have to win Mai a prize before it's too late!"  
  
The four walked out of the cabin and hurried off to find their duels for the day, now happy that there was no evil surrounding them.  
  
"Hey!" Came a familiar voice, and everyone turned to see who it was.  
  
It was Joey, Serenity, and Triston, running up to them, Joey carrying something in his arms.  
  
"Did Mai give you the puzzle back?" he asked, panting slightly, as he approached.  
  
Yugi nodded and rubbed the puzzle fondly.  
  
"Yep," he replied.  
  
"You got 6 stamps, Joey?" Tea asked, shocked, seeing Joey's object was a vase with strange patterns on it.  
  
"Uh...yeah!" Joey said realizing what she was talking about. "Played a couple losers."  
  
Kaiba sighed.  
  
"I guess that's the only way he could win, now isn't it?" he asked with a sigh.  
  
"WHAT?!" Joey cried angrily, nearly dropping the vase to make a fist.  
  
Serenity grabbed the vase away from him.  
  
"Onichan! Be careful!" she instructed, and everybody laughed.  
  
****  
  
At the end of the day, Yugi, all his friends, and Kaiba and Mokuba were standing on the dock, waiting for the return boat to come by.  
  
Duke and Amber, trying to blink blink back tears, were saying good-bye for now, as they would be taking different boats back. (Obviously. His would be going to Japan, and hers back to America)  
  
Taerro and Bakura were talking to each other. Since they had so much in common to begin with, it looked like Bakura had found a new friend. Taerro, at least, felt better about what he unwittingly had done when Bakura told him about how Yami Bakura once put everyone's souls in the cards and had a duel.  
  
Yugi, Tea, and Triston were standing next to each other, looking out at the approaching boats.  
  
"Well, this was certainly a fun tournament," Yugi smiled. "I'm glad Mai liked the painting I gave her. It WAS of a beautiful lady, after all."  
  
Tea nodded. She, too, was carrying a small painting; The one with the Millennium Eye logo on it. She had wanted it because it reminded her of the puzzle.  
  
Kaiba had chosen a bronze mini statue of a dragon of some sort. Mokuba was admiring it as they waited.  
  
Duke had not gotten his 6 stamps, but Amber had chosen a small horse made of a golden material that looked like amber. (The sap from trees amber, not Amber herself)  
  
Bakura had taken a little statue of a chicken. (He couldn't think of anything else to take!)  
  
Taerro felt too guilty to earn anymore stamps in the booklet bearing his name, but dueled for the heck of it, and for fun.  
  
"Well," Bakura sighed as the boat approached. "I guess this is it for now. Can you give me your address so we can stay pen-pals?"  
  
"Sure thing," Taerro said, tearing a sheet of paper out of his notebook and starting to scribble his address down.  
  
"Wait a minute," Bakura said, looking down at the address. "You live in Domino too? Domino Japan?"  
  
Taerro looked up.  
  
"Yeah, why?" he asked.  
  
Bakura laughed.  
  
"That's where I live too!" he said happily.  
  
Taerro laughed.  
  
"Cool, I guess I WILL be seeing you around when we get back," Taerro added.  
  
Bakura nodded as the boats docked.  
  
"For now, see you later!" Bakura cried, running up to his boat.  
  
"Bye!"  
  
Yugi, Tea, Triston, Joey, Serenity, and Mai boarded their boat as well. Kaiba and Mokuba followed a minute later.  
  
"Duke!" Joey cried, leaning over the edge of the boat at Duke who still talking to Amber.  
  
"Coming!" he called, running over to his boat. "Bye Amber!"  
  
"Bye!" she waved happily. "AND DON'T FORGET TO E-MAIL ME!" she added sternly.  
  
"I won't!" he replied, waving from the deck of the boat.  
  
The boats set sail, leaving Amber, the island, and whole lot of memories behind.   
  
Yugi smiled to himself and enjoyed the night's air. So much had happened during the past few days, but everything had turned out all right.  
  
He sighed.  
  
"Well, I guess that pretty much concludes things," he said, turning around and walking back inside the boat.  
  
He was greeted by a bunch of noise.  
  
"What's this?" he asked, walking past Tea into a the dining room which was filled with food and streamers.  
  
"It's the "end of the tournament party!" Joey said happily, helping himself to a cookie. "Come on!"  
  
Yugi grinned and joined the fun.  
  
THE END  
***  
  
"What a great ending!"  
Yes, now did anyone else like it?  
"Yes! Please Review and let us know what you thought of it! And starting Monday, we will have a new story up, it'll be titled SOMETHING like "Underhanded Tactics." Here's a preview:  
  
When Yugi and his friends receive an invitation to a special "Dueling and Dancing" party, they decide that it could be fun. But is there a deceitful intention behind this friendly invite? And Yami Bakura has some plans for Bakura's new friend Taerro...  
  
Check back at my profile on Monday to find it! Thanks for reading!  
:) 


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